Cal State L.A. Publisher Fired

Zyda was my journalism teacher at UCLA. She was a firm but giving instructor, and anyone who managed to get a good grade from her had to work very hard for it.

She taught her students to dispense with pretense, to avoid obfuscation, and, above all, to revere the truth. She was a beacon of sensibility.

It’s true that few details have been given, but on the surface Zyda’s removal seems uneasily akin to President Nixon’s firing of Elliot Richardson and Archibald Cox and the recent resignations at Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese’s “Justice” Department.

If there’s a problem with facts that the Cal State L.A. administrators didn’t want revealed, then the problem was more likely with the message and not with the messenger.

Firing someone as dedicated as Zyda will merely shine more light on the facts, and I suspect that the only ones who have anything to fear are those who fear the truth.

RON HARDCASTLE

Los Angeles