Interesting read:

http://www.dailycal.org/article.php?id=13757

My thoughts:
Dear Michelle,

I must applaud you for the article recently written in
the Daily Cal in regards to the racial climate at UCB.
As an alum, I had the opportunity to see this up close
and personal, and each time I visit the campus I am
constantly reminded of the disconnect and lack of
diversity. As a Black female, I feel like I had to
over explain myself to justify my reasoning for being
at Cal. I mean, why was the question "How did you get
in?" posed to me so many times? Or my favorite, the
fact that I cannot just say that "I went to Cal," but
I have to say that "I graduated from Cal," as the
former is often followed up by "Did you finish?" It's
interesting how so many compounding factors can make
the waters so murky. You don't want to readily play
the race card so to speak, as critics often consider
it whining or that your making an excuse, but
sometimes you have to call it what it is. But then
again, there is the fact that we come from various
socio-economic backgrounds, cultures, genders, etc...
so yet again we are in such a nebulous state. Thank
you again for depositing little grains of insight that
I hope that folks on the UCB campus and beyond will
at least begin to think about. I'm just so tired
of having to explain myself.

Cheers!
Katherine Brown
Cal alumni 2001