Dear Editor,

Thank you for your April 1 story “E-mail Mishap Raises Concerns Over I-House Admissions Process,” about the discriminatory, race-based admissions process at the International House. I am “John,” the student mentioned in the article.

I am writing in response to Jeremy McGrew, who told the Guardian that “anyone who is trying to criticize the setup of this, or how they run it, is trying to throw a wrench in something that’s moving very smoothly.”

The system of using race in housing is not a “good setup.” In Eleanor Roosevelt College’s writing series Making of the Modern World, we learned how white people once systematically denied housing and other rights to blacks. That was not a good setup, and it was racist. I-House should not hide behind a cloak of diversity when what it really supports is continual racism and discrimination. In calling the I-House admissions system a “good setup,” maybe he was not aware of it, but McGrew used the same arguments made by supporters of southern Jim Crow laws, who thought someone “crazy” like Rosa Parks was fighting something “that’s moving very smoothly.” We know Rosa Parks was not crazy; she was courageous in standing up to institutions and “good setups.” Over something as trivial as a seat on the bus, she took a stand and we are now indebted to her as a nation. 

We stand with Rosa Parks, and we need to tell UCSD I-House staff that their defense of a system that denied admission to Mexican, Asian, black, white and other students based partially on race or national origin concerns is indefensible. 

—“John”

Source, April 1 article

“E-mail Mishap Raises Concerns Over I-House Admissions Process”