Beginning in 2010, the Office of Institutional Research & Assessment (OIRA) reconfigured race categories to better reflect racial identity. The census added separate categories for "Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander" and "Two or More Races." As a result, the number of students identifying as Asian decreased from 2,012 (7.0%) in 2009 to 1,409 (4.8%) in 2010. This is demonstrated in the discontinuity between 2009 and 2010. OIRA has continued to use the categories introduced in 2010 so that this graph ultimately represents a yearly increase in students identifying as Asian at UNC.
