Opportunity Remains

There’s a fine bit of irony in the fact that authors Clarkson Crane and Irving Stone are juxtaposed on Page 1 of The Book Review (Oct. 20). As the review of Kay Boyle mentions, Crane graduated from UC Berkeley in 1916 and later wrote pieces drawn from his view of “the farce and the tragedy of campus life.” Stone also graduated from Berkeley, in 1923, but his memory of college days is far more pleasant. So much so, in fact, that he collected a series of glowing little memoirs from 39 well-known alumni (including himself) and published them under the title of “There Was Light: Autobiography of a University: Berkeley: 1868-1968.

Stone, in his essay, could be answering Clark’s earlier pessimism: “Everything that I am, everything that I have aspired to accomplish . . . I owe directly to my opportunity to attend a land-grant college, where a poor boy like myself could earn himself a fine education at the cost of $25 a semester; but mark you! that $25 included full hospital and medical care, a clean towel and gymnasium suit five times a week.”

The opportunity is still here, although the price is a little steeper.

RAY COLVIG

Public Information Officer

UC Berkeley