UC Davis Fails in Public Relations

I am outraged that UC Davis has shown such insensitivity to the 105 students who were erroneously sent letters of acceptance (“High School Student From Germany Appeals UC Davis Acceptance Foul-Up,” April 20). The clerical error was the fault of the university, as it readily acknowledged. As the mother of a freshman at UC Berkeley, I know firsthand the pressures young people face today in choosing a college.

Why should the young student from Germany have to endure even greater stress as a consequence of this bureaucratic mistake? His 3.73 GPA and 1150 SAT score were below the median for incoming freshmen at Davis, but were they lower than all the other students who were correctly accepted? The article states that few appeals are ever granted this late in the selection process, but in view of the school’s culpability, I think that this young man and the other students should be admitted as provisional and allowed to prove themselves worthy of continuing there just like all the other incoming freshmen.

Hope H. Holdsworth

West Covina