Fewer Minorities Enroll in Boalt Law School

Re “Fallout From UC Preferences Ban,” June 28: I beg to differ with the comment, “Diversity, in and of itself, does not enrich education.” In the early to mid-’70s I attended a small, prestigious liberal arts college in Southern California. There were very few blacks in my class, let alone the entire student body.

Because I was the first black many of my classmates knew, I was asked, “Are blacks born black?” or “Why is your hair like that?” or, because I was fair, “Are either of your parents white?” The most telling comment came in my senior year, during the showing of “Roots.” A friend of mine, a senior majoring in art history, stopped me after the first episode and said, “I didn’t know Africans had culture!”

During those four years, my white friends and I grew to respect and enjoy our cultural differences--an experience that will be sadly missing from the UC system of today.

JACKIE McCOY

South Pasadena

Eddie Lara could have looked around at Admitted Students Day and seen a room full of intellectually gifted and accomplished students, including himself. Instead, he saw “just a big room full of white people.” Presumably, Lara deserves a free pass on racism because he’s Latino.

If Lara’s petulant decision to bypass Boalt Hall School of Law because of Prop. 209 is indicative of why minority students’ percentages are dropping, then so be it. The issue isn’t numbers, but opportunity. With Latinos offered 48 out of 270 slots, it is clear the opportunity is there. If Lara and others let a chip on their shoulders cloud their thinking and pass it up, that’s their problem.

JIM BASS

Thousand Oaks

The fact that the entering class at UC Berkeley’s law school will likely include only one black student next year [on deferred enrollment from 1996] is proof UC Regent Ward Connerly’s dream of a colorblind society is turning into a nightmare of “separate but equal” (June 27).

Why does it matter? Minority doctors and professionals are more likely than their white peers to provide treatment and services in their own ethnic communities. Minority-owned companies are more likely to employ minority workers. Because Connerly’s race has made him a convenient spokesman for affirmative action foes, his misguided views are now showing to have disastrous consequences for minorities, women and the quality of education in California.

FREDERICK E. JORDAN

Director, Americans United

for Affirmative Action

San Francisco

Fourteen black students were admitted to UC Berkeley’s law school on their own merits without preferential treatment, and all of them chose not to attend. Except in the minds of its advocates, in what way is the end of affirmative action to blame for this?

MARK LEINWAND

Agoura Hills