Needs of Minority College Students

* It’s greatly misleading and self-serving to imply (Editorial, Jan. 29) that recent UCI outreach programs in minority communities were essential and resulted in increased number of applications at the university.

Your statement about minorities perceiving the university as hostile, after UC ended its affirmative action programs in 1995, also implies that minority students are very timid and need a lot of hand-holding by university officials to apply and gain entry into the UC system.

Let’s not belittle the high school graduates living in our minority communities.

I’ve lived in Orange County since 1959, and my son and daughter both attended Fountain Valley High School and graduated from UCI in the mid-’80s, without any affirmative action programs or the need of any minority student outreach efforts.

Today, there are simply more minority students applying for entry into UCI because there are more such students in the county. The Asian students constitute over 50% of the UCI student body. Yes, this was achieved without any outreach programs.

Let’s do away with all of this hand-holding of minority students and use the funds to educate our children.

RALPH MENDOZA

Fountain Valley