Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

My Arizona Wildcats capped a disappointing season with a victory over New Mexico in the New Mexico Bowl. The Cats finished 7-6. The team had many injuries, so perhaps next season will be better. Bear down, boys!

Happy solstice, everyone. It's the first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, though you wouldn't know it from the warm, sunny weather in North Texas.

I'm a goal-driven person. My athletic goal for 2015 was to have my second-best mileage year on the bike. Today, I achieved it. My 34 miles (in gorgeous weather) gives me 4,730.8 miles for the year, which beats the 4,706.9 that I pedaled in 1991. My best year, of the 35 I've had, was 1990, when, at the age of 33, I rode 6,205.9 miles. It's going to be hard to beat that mark until I retire from teaching, when I'll have more time. Right now, I'm riding three times a week, for a total of 102 miles. With 10 more days before the year ends, I'm going to try to reach 4,900 miles. That means five more rides. Unless the weather is atrocious, I'll make it.

Addendum: My average speed today was 17.08 miles per hour. This may not seem like much, but (1) there was no drafting, (2) there are rolling hills on part of the course, plus a big hill near the end, and (3) the course has many twists and turns, which requires using the brakes. My best average speed on this course (34 miles) is 17.30 miles per hour. As I say, the weather was gorgeous, and I felt good. There were surprisingly few cyclists on the trail today. Perhaps everyone is out shopping.

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To the Editor:

Colleges can achieve diversity with or without affirmative action. Getting students to accept the challenges that diversity demands is another matter. Frank Bruni seems to envision a one-size-fits-all student, a paragon of political correctness, who will spend summers volunteering in other countries and wearing the colors of the rainbow like a suit of armor. Many will, but there are those who will take the required courses in multiculturalism and then encase themselves in their own parochial cocoon. And who is to deny them their right?

In my 50 years as a college professor, I have seen interracial romances blossom. I have seen students of different ethnicities bond after working on a joint project. I have also seen students isolate themselves in their own secure corner of the classroom, preferring to mingle with no one except their own kind. Let colleges pursue diversity in their own way, let professors teach their discipline and let students find their own way into this highly complex and marvelously diverse world.

BERNARD F. DICK

Teaneck, N.J.

The writer is professor emeritus of communication and English at Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Note from KBJ: Laissez-faire.

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