Letters

Finally, someone who cares

As a graduating senior, I have seen the Undergraduate Student
Association Council’s members push for changes on campus that
the majority of students is apathetic toward, respond to critics by
tooting their own horns in letters to the Bruin, and make
statements which are a gumbo of youthful idealism.

I have the overwhelming sense that many of USAC’s members
will one day graduate and go on to become politicians, lawyers and
business executives who will always have a slippery handshake and a
news camera-ready smile.

How refreshing is it to read in the Bruin (“USAC
member calls for crosswalk,” News, Jan. 10), that general
representative, David Dahle, is pressing the Department of
Transportation for the installation of a crosswalk at a dangerous
intersection like Gayley and Landfair. While other USAC officials
are trying to save us from our own ignorance and create new
Enlightenment eras in Westwood through diversity requirements,
lives may be saved because someone cared enough about an idea that
was both simple and necessary.

Serge Park Fourth-year History

University plans backfiring

I think David Horowitz has given an interesting explanation for
the University of California’s decision on “lowering
the bar,” concerning UC admissions (“New
admission policy hides public school failure,” Daily
Bruin, Viewpoint, Jan. 7). However, I think there is a far simpler
possibility.

Part of it lies in the fact that although applications to
schools like UCLA are way up, so also are the percentage being
accepted. This is not an isolated event; all across the country
colleges and universities are scrambling for America’s top
students, middle students and even poor students. It should not be
surprising that NCAA Division I athletes are held to higher
standards than the “average student,” as the
“average” has slipped so far down.

So, what we have is a reflection of supply and demand. Schools
have had to drop standards in order to fill classes.
Universities were geared up for the big baby boom that is long
gone. They now have huge faculties, administrators and staff
that must have a minimal level of students to stay viable.

So before anyone brings out SAT scores and rants about how
little things have changed, let’s remember that these
standards were also “normalized” downward by about 100
points only a few years ago in order to bring students in.

Roger M. Freberg Alumnus