If ignorance is bliss, the happiest people in the world must be walking around MSU's campus.

This is in response to "U-M policy doesn't award for hardship," (SN 2/20). I'm tired of the lack of support for affirmative action and the ignorance about who it helps.

So here is the burden I'm bearing. Did Jennifer Bass, the woman who wrote the letter to the editor, stop and think that the fact she is female was probably a key factor in her admittance to this institution? That sole fact may have gotten her in over a white, black, Chicano, Asian or Native American male that had significantly better grades.

Fortunately, Bass does not have to wear affirmative action on her face, but I do. I am tired of people thinking I didn't struggle just as hard if not harder to get in this university than they did. I am an intelligent black female; I graduated from a good high school with excellent grades. I still have excellent grades.

Unfortunately for me, I walk on this campus every day knowing the majority of people will never know about all of that. Instead, based on the type of ignorance Bass and others regale in, I am seen as a beneficiary of affirmative action.

Many forget affirmative action was created to give white women equal opportunities in the work place and later helped them to get into college. It still does. When I go into the workplace, I might be judged by my color and that's a hardship my ancestors endured and one I will endure for the rest of my life - something Bass will never have to deal with.

Maybe you should stop watching "Boston Public" and take a field trip to the inner city.

Lauren Gaines
psychology sophomore and racial ethnic student aide