There are a number of errors in the submission written by David Lazar (“AAP unfairly favors minorities,” March 4).
Lazar seems to believe that the Academic Advancement Program is an example of political correctness.
He goes on further to state that political correctness is a violation of academic freedoms.
First of all, it’s easy to single out a program like AAP when speaking of political correctness; it represents the diversity of the UCLA campus, and diversity seems to be a hot button for some.
Second, academic freedom is the very reason that we exist on this campus, like many of the other programs that represent the voices of those who are typically left out of the mainstream.
Furthermore, trying to characterize it as a race-based program is wrong and disrespectful to all of the outstanding students and staff who work and utilize the program’s services. Race is not a criterion for AAP eligibility.
AAP represents UCLA’s best and brightest, and the participants come from many diverse communities. Of the 24,000-plus students on the UCLA campus, approximately 27 percent are AAP eligible.
It’s also wrong to misrepresent the AAP Web site.
The AAP Web site, under “About AAP,” says, “The Academic Advancement Program (AAP) (is) a multiracial program. … Students are eligible to be in AAP if their academic profiles and personal backgrounds may impact their university experience and their retention and graduation from UCLA. They are also eligible if they are part of any federally-funded program that requires counseling, tutoring, or mentoring.”
The Web site is clear: AAP eligibility has nothing to do with race. Neither race nor racial groups are even mentioned in this context.
In fact, since the passage of Proposition 209, the number and percentage of white, Asian, Middle Eastern, East Indian and “other” students in AAP has steadily increased.
AAP is here to serve the academic needs of those students who earn their way into UCLA and who seek out resources and programs that will give them the academic and counseling support they will probably need to perform well academically and graduate from UCLA.
It probably would have been better if the author and those who were quoted in the article spent a little time in AAP before making it an example of political correctness.
At the very least, we are a program that serves nearly a third of the students who have excelled and contributed to both academic and community life.
This was evidenced by the outstanding alumni that were honored at the 35th Anniversary Celebration held on Feb. 28 in Royce Hall.
AAP is an amazing program that has done wonders for this campus and the many students it has served over the years.
In my opinion, political correctness is an outdated term, and it certainly doesn’t describe a program like AAP or the many others on the UCLA campus that contribute to the educational growth of all students.
Alexander is the associate vice provost for student diversity and director of the Academic Advancement Program.