In your opinion piece “World-weary words” on Feb. 4, you claim that state pressure on the College of William and Mary to give greater preference to in-state applicants is only to point out its preference being “almost to the detriment of any out-of-state students.” I must ask how that pressure is only “almost” to the detriment of the qualified applicants and students who now compose a sizeable fraction of our community. At no point have state representatives shown any compunction about diminishing the educational opportunities of students seeking a quality education at a lower cost than that of a private university, while still paying the premiums needed to subsidize the educations of their in-state peers. The mincing of your indictment of their rhetoric, while politically correct, was an inaccurate reflection of the intentions of many of Virginia’s elected officials.