Special Admissions Requests at UC

In your April 12 editorial, “Hey, Maybe It Is Whom You Know,” you imply that Regent Ward Connerly’s inquiry about a student applicant led to the admission of that applicant by UC Berkeley. I have been informed by the Administrative Review Committee that that is absolutely not the case. The applicant’s case was placed on the Administrative Review Committee roster so that a status report could be provided to Connerly. The committee took no action and no status report was ever provided.

The individual you cited was admitted on the basis of merit alone by one of UC Berkeley’s professional schools. The applicant was a reentry student with many years of professional experience in the chosen field. This information was presented clearly and directly to your reporter by two members of the Administrative Review Committee.

The case of this applicant gives a brief glimpse into the complexity of the admissions process. Grade point average and test scores alone are only one indicator of the overall qualifications of any applicant.

Connerly and I have differing views on affirmative action. However, I respect his views and cannot allow the characterization of his involvement in the admissions process at Berkeley to stand without this clarification.

CHANG-LIN TIEN

Chancellor, UC Berkeley

* Having just read “UC Berkeley Panel Handles Admission Requests by VIPs” (April 11), I am appalled by Connerly’s casual promotion of two applications that “passed through (his) hands.” Connerly, a regent and champion of the anti-affirmative action initiative, stated, “I literally gave them to the chancellor and said, ‘Do what you want with them.’ I didn’t follow up.”

A follow-up to this action would have been pathetically redundant. A person has more chance of winning the lottery than these applications had of being rejected by the university.

When are public servants going to realize that contrary to “rank has its privileges,” rank instead, has its responsibility--to do the right thing.

ALAN M. KRANE

Los Angeles

* I’m a bit amused by the considerable attention given to the UC system and its way of selecting students. When I was chair of the department of social work at Cal State San Bernardino, we received a number of requests from “higher-ups” to give special consideration to politically connected students. One request in particular stands out. A church leader who knew a regent asked the regent to contact the chancellor who contacted the president who contacted my dean. Everyone told us that they were just passing the word on, but you certainly got the picture.

Well, we did the right thing and, political pressure aside, we rejected the student. I met the chancellor (Ann Reynolds) at a graduation reception. She remembered the student, knew my name and my role in turning the student down and gave me what I would politely call the cold shoulder.

Does this happen every day in California, even at the Cal State schools? Absolutely. It’s an insidious way of doing business, it’s cynical and it ought to be stopped. Period.

MORLEY D. GLICKEN PhD

San Bernardino