Letters to the Editor

Not a level field To the editor: I am an alumnus who is opposed to affirmative action. I applied to Penn as a candidate who had not finished high school, whose mother and siblings were in need of financial contributions from me and who held a full-time job while completing my degree (with honors) in four years. I am white. Affirmative action presents the majority of whites as advantaged and certain minorities as disadvantaged. Why should an upper middle class black candidate receive preferential treatment and subsidization while a poor white applicant would be denied an opportunity? Is there any way this situation can be interpreted as the much touted "level playing field?" Diversity at highly selective academic institutions can be achieved by considering ability and financial need. Ability can be assessed by SATs and/or high school class rank. Wealthy students should not receive grants; poor students should not receive loans. Affirmative action is a mechanism for upper and upper middle class whites to assuage their guilt. They are not adversely impacted by these programs. The burden of affirmative action is borne by the white working class, the same group that has been delegated to fight the wars, dig canals, construct railroads, toil in factories and labor in dull, repetitive jobs to produce the wealth of the country. The white liberal, financially privileged group is always the first to desert neighborhoods that are being integrated, first to place their children in expensive private schools when they feel uncomfortable with a more than token "diversity," and first to legislate that some other group pay the price for uneasy malaise experienced by these scions of the veranda and mint julep set. They are also at the forefront of the hypocrisy queue. Tom McCarronCollege '74 Blocked out To the editor: I was getting ready to leave my parents' house, just outside the city, on Tuesday night, looking forward to watching our Ivy League favorite Quakers to garner yet another win in the historic series between Penn and Princeton and send us on our way to another Ivy League title. I was excited because the game was on TV, Comcast SportsNet to be more specific. For a student at Penn, what could be better than watching Penn beat Princeton? As I got back to the city, I went to my room, sat down with the remote and remembered that Penn's cable doesn't have this station. So instead of relaxing and watching the game, I bitterly decided to study, periodically checking ESPN.com to see how we were doing, all the while wondering why it was that I, a University of Pennsylvania student, could not watch the most important sports game of the year for Penn athletics when it was being televised. This is not the only disappointment I have experienced because of this. As I am from just outside of Philadelphia, I am a passionate Philadelphia sports fan. When I am here at school, I again have to rely on ESPN.com and SportsCenter to find out how the 76ers, Flyers and Phillies performed that day. Luckily, Penn cannot deprive me of my beloved (although not right now) Eagles. Is there really any reason that the TV station of the company that practically owns the city of Philadelphia isn't accessible to us, here in Philadelphia? I just think that it's funny how I moved closer to where the teams that I watch play; yet I have to go farther away to watch them. John McCarthyCollege '05

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