Did Soviets Get the Whole Picture?

While on a casual reading, touchy-feelie U.S. warmness and Soviet glasnost/perestroika are all there, a serious reading of the article “Soviets Arrive in Occidental Exchange,” (Glendale section, Sept. 27) raises some serious and vital questions about the introduction of the two Soviet students to Los Angeles and the U.S. by Occidental College.

I assume that the school alerted The Times to the presence of the students and that the article is an accurate reflection of the reporter’s experience--though I wish that a few in-depth questions had been asked. While I’d not deny Venice Beach, bodysurfing, Descanso Gardens and restaurants to the visitor, I have to ask whether Skid Row (next to government and cultural centers) in L.A., the Watts Towers and East L.A. were in the package. Are multicultural issues as resolved at Oxy as they ought to be? How about the Pico-La Brea day laborers’ corner--and Glendale’s corner as well? And, the students’ majors are psychology and social philosophy. What gives? As a black, I wonder.

PAUL LOGAN

Los Angeles