Apology for Ad

* I read with saddened amazement “College Paper Apologizes for Anti-Reparations Ad” (March 2). When I was in college at a state school, we were encouraged to intelligently discuss our differing opinions. At UC Berkeley it appears that having a politically incorrect view, although intellectually defensible, is unacceptable. Feelings trump thoughtful analysis and intellectual rigor.

Perhaps the editor of the Daily Californian needs to think through the purposes for which a college exists. Perhaps it is too much to ask that those who disagree with the points raised in the ad should have used their minds to come up with a rebuttal. In a world where “feelings” trump thought, we all lose.

JOHN R. WHIFFEN

Malibu