LETTERS
Backing Davis
I have witnessed Gov. Gray Davis’ leadership as he works to revive California’s economy in the wake of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.
By arranging an economic summit in Burbank recently, the governor had the foresight to bring together some of the state’s most powerful business leaders to devise practical ways to stimulate the state’s economy. The participants brainstormed to produce a number of ideas that should prove fruitful in the coming months. They range from an even more aggressive approach to encouraging tourism, to increased support for the hard-hit manufacturing and technology sectors.
The governor’s quick actions are indicative of his leadership to meet the needs of his constituents and the business community. In fact, under his stewardship, California’s economy grew from $1.2 trillion to $1.35 trillion last year, moving the state ahead of France to become the fifth largest economy in the world.
Gov. Davis has also followed through on his plan for a New Economy. This plan promotes California as the world’s leader in a revolution of productivity and economic growth, sparked by information, technology, innovation, and human capital. The facts speak for themselves. The Davis Administration has issued more than a billion dollars in bonds and loans to support the state’s infrastructure for industry, medical research, art and agriculture, and awarded 25 California companies with $4 million in matching grants through the California Technology Investment Partnership program that supports projects to enhance the economic growth and job creation ability of the state through technology innovation.
Under the governor’s direction, the agency has helped numerous businesses and communities with programs designed to increase business investment and exports, create jobs and promote technology innovations to improve the lives of all Californians. His administration is committed to expediting a full recovery of California’s economy by using all available resources to provide an immediate stimulus to every level of the economy.
Lon S. Hatamiya
Secretary
California Technology, Trade
& Commerce Agency
Sacramento
UC Admissions
With great fanfare the Board of Regents of the University of California have announced new university admissions policies. These policies will downgrade academic qualifications (grades and test scores) and will use a policy that includes factors such as the students’ “struggle against poverty or athletic or artistic ability.”
The supporters of these changes promise that they will not use the new policies to promote raced-based admissions. But the real meaning and goal of the new California guidelines is the elimination of the concepts of fairness and objectivity from the admissions process.
It is no accident that most colleges use the Scholastic Aptitude Test and high school grades as the main criteria for admissions: These have been shown for decades to be the best predictors of scholastic performance. The SAT is race-blind, gender-blind, age-blind, politics-blind, religion-blind, country of national origin-blind and sexual-orientation blind.
This is precisely why the regents oppose it. They want the admissions process to be subjective. This means that hidden agendas can now be brought into the admissions process with the blessing of the regents. Ability aside, who is more likely to get admitted to Berkeley under the new “flexible” guidelines: the high school radical who claims that the attack on the World Trade Center was our fault or the conservative student who supports our right to self-defense?
Does anyone believe that race will not be brought back as a factor? Previously, students who were discriminated against due to race could show that they should have been admitted because their test scores and grades were better than those who were admitted; usually, if they took the case to court, they won. But the university can now say, in its defense, “We used a holistic procedure based on numerous factors that vary from student to student ”
The regents claim that people like Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg, who had serious learning disabilities, would be admitted under the new guidelines but not under the old. This argument is ridiculous on several counts. First, why would a university want to admit people with serious learning disabilities? Second, how could they know that Oprah and Whoopi, as high school students, would become superstars? Third, why would people like Oprah and Whoopi need a college degree anyway?
Under the new procedures, it is impossible for a student to know what to do in order to prepare for college. The new “flexible” criteria can be anything the admissions office wants. The ones to suffer the most will be intelligent, hard-working, high-achieving students who most deserve admission.
Edwin A. Locke
(Locke is dean’s professor emeritus of leadership and motivation at the University of Maryland at College Park and is a senior writer for the Ayn Rand Institute, Marina del Rey.)
Changed Model, Not Expectations
The article on the Sequoia Conference Center in the Nov. 26 issue (“Under New Management”) underscores an important consideration for Orange County business leaders in the wake of Sept. 11.
Since the tragedy, we were forced to adapt our expansion and marketing strategies. Instead of adding a hotel to our premises in order to cater to a national business audience, we quickly made architectural changes to accommodate more regional meetings and conferences. Our philosophy is that business leaders need to continue “business as usual,” but will keep their business travel to driving markets.
Orange County businesspersons should be interested in knowing that this has indeed proven to be the case. The Sequoia Conference Center has seen a 20% increase in bookings from December to April over the same period 12 months prior.
At Sequoia, we realized quickly that 9-11 meant that for now, the old meeting model is gone,it is now a local orientation. But nowhere does that mean the expectations for the business of America have changed in the least.
Ed Jay, CEO
Sequoia Conference Center
