The March 1 edition of The Aggie contained an article on former UC Davis student and current contestant on “The Voice”, Lindsey Pavao. It was a well written article, and I’m glad Lindsey is getting the attention she deserves from her former campus community.
But something struck me that I hope struck other Aggie readers. The author of the piece, Dominick Costabile, mentions that Pavao left Davis for financial reasons after her sophomore year. I consider myself fortunate to have met Lindsey while she was a student here, and I can say firsthand that she is brilliant, funny, kind and exceptionally talented. She was an asset to this campus and would have been an even greater asset had she been able to stay.
She is also not the only bright and talented person I know forced to leave Davis because the university and the state of California refuses to support students who cannot pay full tuition. I wonder how many similarly talented students we lose every single quarter because they’re not able to pay the increasingly exorbitant fees this (allegedly public) university demands. Frankly, I wonder also how administrators sleep at night, knowing that while they pull in six figure salaries, extraordinary Aggies slip through the cracks.
I don’t mean to make Ms. Pavao a martyr to my own personal sentiments, or to imply that I speak for her or for anyone else. I don’t. But how disappointing that someone who brought so much life and talent to this school was effectively denied access to our university because UC Davis no longer cares to admit any but the richest students.
Kathryn Hempstead
Senior English and sociology double major
