I would like to inform Jason C. Miller that under the University of Michigan point system, a "white poor student from a failing school in Lansing" would receive the same 20-point advantage given to a "rich black student from excellent schools in Oakland County."

The 20 points awarded for race also was awarded to white students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and white students who attend high schools, like the public Lansing high schools, where the majority of students are minorities.

I'd also like to point out that, according to the ranking system used by the University of Michigan, two out of the three "failing" public high schools in Lansing - Sexton and Eastern - actually rank higher academically than any other high schools in the greater Lansing area except Okemos and East Lansing.

I wonder what led Miller to make a statement like that about area schools, which I am pretty sure he knows little about. Is it because of the high number of minorities in the Lansing schools?

I'm not sure, but in the future I'd appreciate if the conservative columnists such as Miller actually put a little time into researching the validity of their claims before they make them. Otherwise, they risk looking ignorant and, yes, even racist.

Elissa Bretz
2003 MSU graduate