Monday, October 27, 1997
Letters
Competence
in journalism?
I would like to thank the Daily Bruin for pointing out how
incompetent the resident assistant (RA) staff in the Saxon
Residential Suites really is. It certainly took a qualified and
well-respected journalistic source to point out that we have no
clue as to what we’re doing; that we "recite in verbatim" answers
to our residents’ questions and make up "stories" regarding safety
and security issues. We now see all of our flaws and are honored
that despite all of the crises in this world, the Daily Bruin saw
it fit to print our incompetence on the front page of Wednesday’s
paper.
Congratulations once again on a job well done. Maybe we should
all resign as RAs so that your high-and-mighty reporters might
assist students in bullshitting answers out of the Office of
Residential Life. Thank you for pointing out that our buildings,
despite the fact that they lack emergency lighting, sprinklers and
advanced smoke detection systems, are in fact safe because they
don’t hold more than 100 residents each. And most of all thank you
for letting us know that it is because such systems would cost $1
million to install, and not because the Office of Residential Life
does not hold fire safety as a priority, as the real reason we
still don’t have common fire prevention systems. I hope that you
will continue revealing such fact-based truths in the future so
that we can all be thankful for the Daily Bruin’s competence.
Kal Modi
Resident Assistant
Saxon Suites
Even the playing field
I agree completely with and applaud Alex Balekian on his article
on the SAT (SAT good indicator of academic merit, Tuesday, Oct.
21). It is nice to finally hear that someone believes that
academics should still be the main criteria for college
admissions.
I too was enraged to hear about the Latino Committee’s proposal
on eliminating the SAT just because Latinos are not doing well
enough on the test to gain admissions (in fact, I was very
surprised that the Daily Bruin failed to report on this, despite
the fact that it may have a huge impact on the UC system). One
point I would like to add to Balekian’s series of points is that
individuals should take more responsibility for their futures.
After all, there are Asians who, like African Americans and
Hispanics, also come from impoverished backgrounds, but they don’t
let that factor prevent them from working hard for what they
want.
Let’s face it, if we want to equalize the different groups, then
we should get up and do something constructive at the elementary
level to boost the numbers of minorities entering the UC system –
become tutors, mentors, volunteers to those younger students! Work
at keeping the minority youth from entering gangs, using drugs, and
committing crimes. Everything requires hard work. If students are
not willing to put in the time to help their communities, then they
shouldn’t complain that these younger students are not getting into
the UCs.
I believe that most minorities who support affirmative action
really are cheating themselves and they are just looking for the
easy way out rather than working hard to compete. I’ve noticed that
although most who support affirmative action declare that they
earned their rightful place at the University, why then are they so
afraid that affirmative action will no longer help them in? After
all, they themselves say that they belong here because of their
grades and curriculars. So are they now saying that yes, they
belong here at the UC, but at the same time, they wouldn’t have
gotten in if it were not for affirmative action? How can you say
you earned your space here if at the same time, you believe that
without affirmative action, you wouldn’t have gotten in? Do the
supporters of affirmative action really want equality or is it
really preferential treatment that they are looking for?
Being part Hispanic and part African American, I myself am quite
insulted by affirmative action. I do believe that affirmative
action was successful in what it has done to repair past damage,
but now I want to know that I really got into college / graduate
school or that I earned my job based on my credentials rather than
on my skin color.
Most other minorities I know of aren’t willing to work for what
they want for themselves but would prefer to sit back and have
affirmative action work hard for them. Then, if they don’t get what
they want, these individuals scream out the "D" word –
DISCRIMINATION! It’s time to stop the infantile argument and take
charge of one’s own life. Truthfully speaking, if I were a student
who worked hard for my grades and deserved to earn a space in the
UC system, I would be quite irate to find that I got bumped out to
make room for a less deserving student just because I had the wrong
skin color. It is high time we looked beyond the color of the skin
and stop separating into various colors.
Michael Hall
Computer science