We have cross-correlated the SDSS DR3 Schneider et al .
( 58 ) quasar catalog with the XMM-Newton archive .
Color and redshift selections ( g - r \geq 0.5 and 0.9 < z < 2.1 ) result in a sample of 17 red , moderate redshift quasars .
The redshift selection minimizes possible contamination due to host galaxy emission and Ly \alpha forest absorption .
Both optical and X-ray information are required to distinguish between the two likely remaining causes of the red colors : 1 ) dust-reddening and 2 ) an intrinsically red continuum .
We find that 7 of 17 quasars can be classified as probable ‘ intrinsically red ’ objects .
These 7 quasars have unusually broad MgII emission lines ( < FWHM > =10,500 km s ^ { -1 } ) , moderately flat , but unabsorbed X-ray spectra ( < \Gamma > =1.66 \pm 0.08 ) , and low accretion rates ( \dot { M } / \dot { M _ { Edd } } \sim 0.01 ) .
We suggest low accretion rates as a a possible physical explanation for quasars with intrinsically red optical continua .
We find that 8 of 17 quasars can be classified as dust-reddened .
Three of these have upper-limits on the absorption column from X-ray spectral fits of N _ { H } = 3-13 x 10 ^ { 22 } cm ^ { 2 } , while the other five quasars must be absorbed by at least N _ { H } = 10 ^ { 23 } cm ^ { 2 } in order to be consistent with a comparably selected \alpha _ { ox } - l _ { uv } distribution .
Two objects in the sample are unclassified .