Letter to the Editor

To the editor:

We are not better together.

In response to the article in the Feb. 7 edition of The Call, there are many disturbing aspects to the Better Together plan.

The article states that many of the recommendations for the the plan came from the “Forward Through Ferguson” report.

Most of us in St. Louis County would agree, especially those of us who live in Oakville, that we are nothing like Ferguson nor do we have the problems facing the city of St. Louis.

This plan’s purpose seems to be to improve Ferguson and the city at the expense of St. Louis County.

Finally, Mark Wrighton, the current chancellor of Washington University, is leading the Better Together effort.

As a graduate of Washington University and someone who has met Chancellor Wrighton, I am concerned about his involvement.

In 1972, more than half of the graduates were kids from St. Louis.

It was Wrighton’s stated mission when he replaced Bill Danforth in 1995 to globalize the school.

I am unhappy to say that a small percentage of St. Louisans make up the class of 2019.

All things being equal, Chancellor Wrighton preferred students from other states or countries than those from St. Louis.

Is it possible that some of the problems that this “Better Together” plan is trying to fix would not exist if Washington University was more welcoming to kids from St. Louis?

I implore our elective representatives to fight this plan and allow for it to be determined not by all of Missouri but by the citizens of St. Louis.

John Schweitzer
Oakville