Editor, Daily Nexus,

I must say that I am genuinely disgusted and appalled by the things that I have read in the opinion section of the Nexus. I advocate free speech and believe everyone has the right to an opinion, but the things I have read have been ignorant and totally misguided.

First of all, it is utterly ridiculous to blame people of color for the decline in the quality of higher education. Let’s try blaming the fact that funding for education has continually decreased. Let’s blame the high drop-out rate on the lack of financial aid for those who cannot afford the high cost of higher education.

Second of all, to say that it is because of the quest for diversity that the quality of higher education has declined is absurd. This is untrue and insulting. The percentage of people of color enrolled in the University of California system has gone up over the past couple of years. The standards have not been lowered to increase these numbers. In fact, there has been talk of increase in the minimum GPA required to attend a school in this prestigious system. Every person of color on this campus is here because they deserve to be here. It is my argument that the presence of these people has improved the quality of education on this campus. Without the people of color on this campus who were willing to fight for what they believed in we would not have the Black Studies, Chicano Studies or Asian American Studies departments. Would you say these departments are useless and are lessening the quality of your education? People should probably look at the bigger picture before they go writing ignorant, misguided articles that lack merit, research and truth.