While trying to justify affirmative action, Amanda Guzman has done a great job in illustrating why we need to get rid of it ("Racism and poverty hold minorities back," Jan. 20 letter). Miss Guzman admits that seniors who are in the top 10 percent of their class, "probably do deserve" to be admitted into college. She then implies that this method of affirmative access would be the wrong way to go, because it would be "beneficial for the rich white men." In making this racist (as well as sexist) statement, Miss Guzman has exposed affirmative action's racist foundation.

Miss Guzman's next argument against President Bush's "affirmative access" suggestion is the baseless, ludicrous claim that "racist and sexist teachers give out the grades." In the early 1900s, maybe. Today, such teachers would be bombarded with lawsuits.

It may be painful for liberalists to swallow this, but affirmative action and diversity are just as bad as segregation. Both of these policies are based on the belief that a person's inner qualities are somehow determined by his/her race. This amounts to illogical discrimination.

Here's a bright idea: Let's have neither affirmative action,nor affirmative access. Instead, how about if universities start evaluating incoming students as individuals rather than mere representatives of a particular category?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't universities aim to admit the best and the brightest?