Photo: Matt Sachs, TexAgs

Texas A&M student body: 'Racism is not an Aggie value'

A coordinated effort from the Texas A&M student body intends to send 10,000 hand-written letters to the high school students reportedly affected by hate speech during a visit to Aggieland, all communicating one message.
By Beau Holder
February 16, 2016 | 51k Views
49 Comments
The Aggie Spirit is mobilizing once again.

A coordinated effort from the Texas A&M student body intends to send 10,000 hand-written letters to the high school students affected by hate speech during a recent visit to Aggieland, all communicating one message:

"Racism is not an Aggie value."

As reported by student newspaper The Battalion at the start of the week, A&M's Student Government Association is at the forefront of a campaign to deliver the letters to the visiting Uplift Hampton Preparatory School students from Dallas who were reportedly targeted by slurs and other heckling while touring the campus.

SGA will set up tables throughout Texas A&M for students to stop by and write to the affected high schoolers Monday, and organizations across campus have pledged to have their members participate. The letters will be collected and hand delivered to the high schoolers by the end of the week.

Joseph Benigno, Texas A&M’s student body president, said the letter campaign is a way for students to tell the high schoolers about true Aggie values.

“The true Texas A&M is a very friendly and welcoming place, and it’s loving and cares for every member of the Aggie family and we go out of our way to make sure that everyone feels welcome here,” Benigno said. “So I don’t want their experience at Texas A&M to be defined by that memory. I want their memory to be a Texas A&M that responded very well in the face of crisis and clearly stood up for what it really believed in, and not stood for hate.”

...

 “We’re going to encourage them to write whatever they feel, but we would love for students to write about how what happened to the high school students does not represent Texas A&M’s values,” Benigno said. “At Texas A&M we try to pride ourselves on being the friendliest campus in the nation and so in no way what they experienced representative of our core values or what we truly stand for, and hopefully that can be communicated through the letters.”

The Batt's article goes on to say that the Association of Former Students was responsible for purchasing the stationary SGA provided to write the letters on and, among the organizations participating, the Interfraternity Council and Collegiate Panhellenic Council pledged every member within the campus fraternities and sororities to write a letter.

The letters will be delivered to Uplift Hamilton in person later in the week.

Truly a coordinated effort from the Aggie Family.
49 Comments
Tags
Pass it Back Texas A&M
More Featured Stories
See All →
Discussion from:
Forums Texas A&M Football
Texas A&M student body: 'Racism is not an Aggie value'
46,811 Views | 49 Replies
...
TexAgs91
1:26a, 2/17/16
In reply to WestGalvestonAggie
quote:
It's like, how much more white could this be? And the answer is none. None more white.
Do you have a problem with whites racist?
...
Jugstore Cowboy
1:41a, 2/17/16
In reply to TexAgs91
I'm so colorblind that I never even realized some racists were white.
...
HowdyGetRowdy409
12:55p, 2/17/16
In reply to ABATTBQ11
quote:
quote:
Let's not rest until the entire A&M administration is fired.
What if we just want the head football coach gone?
Nothing says "We're not racists" like firing one of the few black head coaches in CFB but what the hell write those 10,000 letters!
...
TexAgs91
1:24p, 2/17/16
In reply to HowdyGetRowdy409
quote:
Nothing says "We're not racists" like firing one of the few black head coaches in CFB but what the hell write those 10,000 letters!
But your non-colorblind statement is racist. Sumlin doesn't want to be considered a black coach. It demeans him to boil down all that he is into just being a black coach.

These are his words when he was hired at A&M: "There are a lot of firsts that have happened for me as a coach. Hopefully in the next five years or so, race won't even be a discussion. Honestly, that's something that I really don't talk about. Every time it gets brought up, it's by media. Players don't talk about it in recruiting, parents don't talk about it in recruiting. It's never come up in the discussions that Bill Byrne and I have had... I want to be known as a great coach at Texas A&M. Period."
...
Frankie T
5:17p, 2/17/16
In reply to ABATTBQ87
quote:
quote:
I think this is a great grass roots response to show everyone that "true" Aggies don't support racism and we don't condone the alleged behavior of a few.
You need to read up on A&M history; there is this little school down the road called Prairie View A&M and it's purpose is to educated the colored folks, while the white folks went to the A&M College of Texas


Time frame is key to remember here. Did they integrate minorities into any University in the 1800's?
...
Frankie T
5:20p, 2/17/16
In reply to TexAgs91
We constantly complain about A&M not controlling the narrative. This is an attempt to do so that doesn't have any negative side effects like instituting some outlandish over the top policy would. I think it's a great idea to show that this is not the sentiment of a majority of Aggies.
...
WestGalvestonAggie
6:31p, 2/17/16
In reply to TexAgs91
quote:
quote:
It's like, how much more white could this be? And the answer is none. None more white.
Do you have a problem with whites racist?

Not all whites, just the dumb ones.

Lord loves a workin' man; don't trust whitey; see a doctor and get rid of it. Words of wisdom.
...
ABATTBQ87
8:18a, 2/18/16
In reply to DGAG92
quote:
quote:
quote:
I think this is a great grass roots response to show everyone that "true" Aggies don't support racism and we don't condone the alleged behavior of a few.
You need to read up on A&M history; there is this little school down the road called Prairie View A&M and it's purpose is to educated the colored folks, while the white folks went to the A&M College of Texas
WTF? You idiot.....this is what starts this crap.
You're the idiot by avoiding the truth about A&M and black enrollment; Prairie View A&M is the darker part of the A&M system, and A&M didn't start accepting black students until the Rudder administration during the 1960's.

By the way, racism is alive and well at these schools:

Historically Black Colleges and Universities Ranking
...
Rick Flex
8:52a, 2/18/16
quote:
You're the idiot by avoiding the truth about A&M and black enrollment; Prairie View A&M is the darker part of the A&M system, and A&M didn't start accepting black students until the Rudder administration during the 1960's.

By the way, racism is alive and well at these schools:

Historically Black Colleges and Universities Ranking
I'm not sure what point you're trying to make here? You point out the difference between A&M and Prairie View A&M and how it's "the darker part of the A&M system"(a school created for blacks to go post civil war and before the end of segregation which is the reason most historically black colleges were created) and then make statement about when A&M started accepting blacks, which by the way is on par with most southern schools. Then you make a wide generalization about historically black colleges and follow it up with their ranking? Not a link to stories about racism from these or anything to back up your claim, but a link to their rankings.
1 edit
...
blumpkin
9:00a, 2/18/16
Has this girl been identified and stoned yet?
...
Sid Farkas
9:51a, 2/18/16
In reply to Frankie T
quote:
We constantly complain about A&M not controlling the narrative. This is an attempt to do so that doesn't have any negative side effects like instituting some outlandish over the top policy would. I think it's a great idea to show that this is not the sentiment of a majority of Aggies.
Given the current state of the situation i think you're right.

Unfortunate we have to take extraordinary defensive actions like this because public sensitivity about stupid speech has reached historically absurd levels

Is there a black lives matter chapter in aggieland? This is the kind of thing that group can use to launch their own race hustling franchise. (It's lucrative...just check out how often Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson fly private)
1 edit
...
85Photon
7:39p, 2/23/16
Weren't some of them wearing t.u. shirts? Perhaps that was the source of the "slurs"?

Honestly the racist accusation just doesn't sound like the A&M I've experienced over the years. And these kids ALL have cell phones, if this is a fact, let's see a video. I call B.S.
...
AggieTFA06
8:46p, 2/23/16
racism isn't an aggie value, but it could possibly be a longhorn value
To 1,000,000 touchdowns ...and beyond
...
Brazos Ag 1970
9:03a, 3/5/16
In reply to WestGalvestonAggie
quote:

Sure are a lot of white people in that picture.
Yes, there are. And almost all of them probably agree that "Racism is not an Aggie value."
...
45-70Ag
9:20a, 3/5/16
I accepted a dare in college and applied for a scholarship through the United negro college fund.

I was denied, I presume because I'm a white. I have no proof of that either, but since when is proof needed in declaring someone a racist.

1 edit
...
CLOSE
×
Bookmark topic
Copy link to topic
Cancel
Copy Topic Link to Clipboard
Back
Copy
CLOSE
×
See Posting Policies
Page 2 of 2
Post Reply
Forums Texas A&M Football
 
Desktop Version
TexAgs is an independent site and is not affiliated with Texas A&M University. ©2025 Maroon & White LP and F5 Sports Media LLC. All rights reserved.
×
Verify your student status Register
See Membership Benefits >
CLOSE
×
Night mode
Off
Auto-detect device settings
Off