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Admissions Pamela Burdman reports (“Race-blind admissions,” September) that affirmative action at Berkeley ended in 1997 and now, five freshman classes later, there are “dramatically fewer African Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans.” But an important piece of information is missing--the graduation rate. Surely graduation is more important than entrance. If the graduation rate for this group has dropped, it provides an argument for a return to the previous system. On the other hand, if the graduation rate has remained unchanged, perhaps it means that unqualified applicants, who would have failed, were not admitted. Alan R. Miller ‘53, Ph.D. ‘64 Socorro, New Mexico Thank you for your update on admissions at Berkeley. Unfortunately, a common misconception is promulgated by the author’s use of admissions statistics. Comparing the representation of minorities on campus at Cal with that of the general population is disingenuous. Berkeley is, as the author states, a selective campus among several that make up UC, which is itself the most selective of our state university systems. At the very least, the comparison should be made of the relative numbers of minorities in Berkeley’s admission with those of the top 12.5 percent of graduates from all high schools in the state. These are the students who are targeted for spots in UC. Such a comparison might well show that Cal is doing well in diversifying its student body beyond that of the pool from which it chooses. I applaud Cal’s admissions office for using broader measures of determining which students are qualified to come to Berkeley and hope they continue to improve their efforts. But I don’t think Cal should to have to fix all the failures of our state’s primary and secondary education systems in order to provide a diverse group of admitted students. Peter Skarpelos ‘89, M.S. ‘94 Berkeley Due to an apparent editing error, the Monthly incorrectly quoted me as saying “eliminating affirmative action has resulted in a more equitable process,” erroneously implying that this is my own personal view. On the contrary, I was giving an assessment of student opinion at Berkeley on race-blind admissions, a topic I’ve covered as a reporter and editor for the Daily Californian. What I actually said was that “some students believe the new admissions policy is more equitable.” Rong-Gong Lin II ‘03 Berkeley An Israeli perspective After reading the “Q&A” with Zalman Shoval ‘50 in September, one could easily launch into a diatribe regarding his bigoted and nationalistic rhetoric, which follows the introductory description of Shoval as “refined and cultured.” Instead, I would like to concentrate on one of the many obvious factual errors he made and that elicited no comment by your interviewer. Shoval recycles the often-heard assertion that, at the 2000 summit at Camp David, Barak offered Arafat “97 percent of the [occupied] territories, plus 3 percent of Israel proper.” This is untrue. A detailed and impartial source on the Camp David summit is Charles Enderlin’s book Shattered Dreams, where one finds out that during the summit Barak insisted on annexing 8 to 10 percent of the West Bank and offered no more than 1 percent in return. Barak also demanded being granted a lease on an additional 10 percent of the West Bank for a prolonged period. One would expect a journalist specializing in international affairs to press Shoval regarding the sources for his dubious information, instead of accepting it uncritically. Yoram Gat, Ph.D. ‘00 Palo Alto Burning questions Your article on the West’s fire problems (“Saving the forest for the trees,” September) is a valuable update on the state of affairs, and of the University’s involvement, in this newsworthy realm. For those of us with degrees in forestry, however, it is old news and sadly incomplete. The real reason that there is not more prescribed burning is that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will not permit it. They have deemed that smoke is a human health hazard. The EPA considers itself powerless to regulate “wild” (accidentally or naturally ignited) fires and so focuses regulation on discretionary (prescribed) fires. The maximum amount of smoke that the EPA would permit in the five million acres of the Sierra Nevada is 100,000 acres annually, just 20 percent of what is minimally necessary to keep pace with natural fire in that area. Some scientists have hypothesized that smoke is an important toxin of forest fungi and insects and that the reduction of smoke is partially responsible for current epidemic pest conditions. John Nicoles ‘66 Oakland A minor comment on a great article: “Smokey the Bear,” as you called him, is incorrect (a frequent error). His correct name is simply “Smokey Bear.” A celebration in recognition of his discovery, after being badly burned in the Sacramento mountains of New Mexico in August 1944, is being planned for next August. Don Mahler ‘64 Arcata Remembrances Thank you for the obituary of Professor Ernst B. Haas in your September issue. He combined relentless curiosity with utter intellectual integrity. He was a mentor, a guide, and a model to generations of students. A group of former students has established the Ernst B. Haas Memorial Fund, which will support the dissertation research of doctoral students in international relations at Berkeley. The fellowship will advance two of the causes to which Ernie devoted himself: the expansion of knowledge and the development of young scholars. Those desiring further information may contact me by telephone at 949/824-5726 or by e-mail at wsandhol@uci.edu. Wayne Sandholtz ‘89 Department of Political Science, UC Irvine Past CAA President Mark Ornellas ‘71, in his September remembrance of Mike Koll ‘41, credits him as being the founder of the Lair of the Golden Bear. Mike was the original manager and did a fantastic job of giving the Lair its direction--but he was not the founder. Credit for that belongs to Robert Sibley ‘03, who was executive director of the Alumni Association in the 1940s, when the idea for a summer camp was first developed and implemented. Nate Rubin ‘36 and Rosalie Rubin ‘32 Los Angeles Closer to sanity? Angry alumni write in (“Letters,” September), railing against a Berkeley prof who thinks suppression of liberty is just fine for Muslims. Another letter writer knows what Chancellor Berdahl does not, that if we had ignored the pleas for peace by Einstein and other politically naïve intellects and had removed democratically elected Hitler in the mid-1930s, we would have saved some 50 million lives. Professors Tad Patzek and Alex Farrell (“Fueling the green debate,” September) figured out what environmentalists and politicos could not (due to political correctness, but any decent engineer could), that ethanol and fuel cells will do more environmental harm than good. And Berkeley’s School of Forestry (“Saving the forest for the trees“) is considering advocating some logging to go along with prescribed burning. It’s good to see Cal move slightly closer to sanity, even if many (most?) of its profs are dragged along, kicking and screaming. Jeffrey P. Schaffer ‘65, M.A. ‘69 Napa |
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