This artwork by William Brown relates to how college affirmative action policies expose people from different ethnic and cultural groups to each other -- groups that are often isolated.

Race and admissions

EDITOR: As a white, middle class high school junior on the cusp of applying to college, the April 22 story headlined "High court to revisit race in enrollment" caught my attention. I don't relish the idea of being rejected in favor of someone with lower grades or test scores simply because of race.

Nonetheless, affirmative action remains a critical tool given our country's history of prejudice and discrimination. Considering race and class in admissions serves a worthy goal of creating an educated class of professionals who will accurately reflect the diversity of the community. To succeed, students must feel comfortable in the college environment, which is much more likely when their race is fairly represented in the student population.

The University of California system seems to be taking a back-door approach by recognizing student achievement in light of opportunities available to them. However, the demographic statistics show that this is not enough. In 2007, UC Berkeley's incoming class was 50 percent Asian and 32 percent Caucasian, but only 4 percent black and 0.6 percent American Indian. Colleges ought to take a more direct route by considering race and class among the multitude of other factors that make up admissions decisions.

SOPHIA BELETSIS

Santa Rosa

UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy:
  • This is a family newspaper, please use a kind and respectful tone.
  • No profanity, hate speech or personal attacks. No off-topic remarks.
  • No disinformation about current events.
  • We will remove any comments — or commenters — that do not follow this commenting policy.
Send a letter to the editor