How the ‘establishment’ really works

I just finished reading Jay Ambrose’s “Other Views” opinion published April 22.

I wish to take issue with his final sentence in his opinion piece. To quote:” If he (Bernie Sanders) then fulfilled his pledge of free public universities, private colleges would die.”

Even though I admit if private colleges did die, I would have a grossly short mourning period, that’s not really what my objection is. I attended Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, California, from 1969 to 1972 and paid a nominal free for registration, no tuition. I then transferred to UC Berkeley in Berkeley, California, in 1973 and attended until 1976 and paid $335 per trimester, averaging $1,000 a year.

Was I hallucinating, or were Stanford, Yale, Harvard, Princeton and Dartmouth absolutely thriving private institutions at the time? I’m not exactly remembering ancient history, although I have a touch of gray in my hair.

Is is possible for him to explain exactly why these institutions would die? Wealthy people always want to set themselves apart. I don’t think wealthy families would abandon Harvard and Stanford to send their precious progeny to mingle with the great unwashed and grubby little schools like UC Berkeley.

This story was originally published April 28, 2016 at 8:59 AM with the headline "How the ‘establishment’ really works."