UCLA School of Nursing

* I would like to address the issue of the proposed closures of the UCLA School of Nursing at the bachelor of science level and the severe curtailment of the graduate program. The School of Nursing has been ranked in the top 10 in the nation and fulfills a critical need in California for registered nurses prepared at the bachelor’s level and nurse practitioners prepared at the master’s level. California is a debtor state in this need for nurses.

This issue has received scant attention from both the print and electronic news media. I can only assume that it is not newsworthy because the issue is neither culturally sensitive, such as the Chicano studies program, nor webfoot sensitive, such as the Venice ducks. In the former issue, the media played an extremely important part in garnering the benefaction of the politicians for a program which has a small enrollment. (It should be noted that the School of Nursing’s demise is because of its small enrollment, according to Executive Vice Chancellor Andrea Rich.) Does it take trashing a building to gain equal coverage of a health-sensitive cause?

MARY ANN PREACH

Redondo Beach