Dianne Feinstein's husband named in UC admissions scandal, wrote 'inappropriate' letters for years

[Hekate]

16. Being on the Board of Regents is a BFD, to borrow a phrase. The UC system is enormous...

There’s never enough slots for qualified freshmen earning straight As from their high schools, much less anybody else. In the modern era UC started striving for diversity, in order to better represent a cross-section of the taxpayers.

I don’t know what they’re doing these days, but there was a time they used Affirmative Action, which I supported. Then the citizens of the state voted to end Affirmative Action because of the usual resentments that somebody was getting something that they didn’t deserve and that is was specifically harming them.

Regardless, all taxpayers still pay in to the educational system, and in my opinion and that of others like me, there is a net benefit to having a cross-section of society represented, even if you have to give some of the applicants a boost to get there.

That’s not intended to give a boost to a rich slacker coasting on Daddy’s connections — plenty of time for that when they start looking for a job in some business where being well-connected is just another box to check off.

I am sure Mr Blum thought he was just writing letters of recommendation for his friends’ kids. I certainly looked among friends and neighbors when helping my teenage son put an application packet together. The difference being, I stapled the recommendations to the application which went to an admissions officer, and my friends and neighbors didn’t include either a member of the Board of Regents or a UC campus Chancellor.

Mr Blum didn’t notice the world didn’t work the way he was used to any more when he signed on 18 years ago, and now it is rather forcefully being drawn to his attention. Big Oops.