The race test at UC

Re “At UC, race must matter,” Opinion, Aug. 26

Jeffrey S. Lehman writes: “A colorblind admissions process is unlikely to produce meaningful racial integration.” Why isn’t it? Lehman is more interested in integration than fairness. He is, in fact, arguing for quotas. Instead, the University of California system can have a colorblind admissions policy that takes family income, single-parent household situations, etc. into consideration. My sister and I were raised by a single mother. We spent three years on welfare, and the rest of the time our mother worked. We went to an inner-city school that was predominantly black. Would it be right that a wealthy African American applicant who attended an excellent private school gets into UC ahead of my sister or me even though our grades and test scores were superior to his? For admissions, UC should use other criteria that are fair across the board.

BILL SERANTONI

Thousand Oaks

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Lehman calls for racial profiling in UC admissions for its “integration” value. Notwithstanding several paragraphs of well-written anecdotes, Lehman doesn’t offer any empirical evidence of the value. Lehman alleges that other states are receiving this value that California has been losing out on for a decade; surely it should be straightforward to quantify and to offer peer-reviewed research as proof. This would seem an entirely appropriate expectation from a professor proposing educational policy.

MICHAEL ROBERTSON

Del Mar