What a little *****. Man up and put your name to it:
quote:
Sir,
I want to start this letter by saying that I am a proud Aggie and member of the Corps here at Texas A&M. However, I am writing this letter to address several grievances I currently have with the Corps of Cadets here at Texas A&M. I feel that these grievances are hurting cadets academically and financially and will negatively impact the Corps in the future.
I know the legitimacy of my letter is questionable, as it is anonymously written. Many of my fellow cadets share the same opinions I have and are simply unwilling to bring it up due to fear of repressions, ridicule or their voice not be heard. I am writing this letter for them, my fellow cadets. Any cadet, if they wish to, can put their name on it and let their problems be known.
My first complaint is with the fact that cadets are REQUIRED to take classes that have no practical application to their major, ROTC and SOMS classes. All cadets have to take these classes to be in the Corps, as per federal law, however they do not count for anything meaningful; if you decide to commission and take all four years of ROTC classes (24 credits) you get one political science and one history elective (6 credits, ¼ of what was taken) as compensation. Cadets that choose to go D&C have four semesters of classes (12 credits) that are utterly worthless and cannot apply towards their degree plan. SOMS classes are required to receive a leadership certificate and are required whether or not we are pursuing the certificate. Many cadets, myself included, simply cannot take additional classes for the certificate because some majors (engineering in particular) already require students to take 17-18 hours a semester and are already behind on their studies due to the ROTC requirement. To put this into a financial perspective: 1 credit hour at A&M costs $600.40, and with cadets needing at least 12 credits of ROTC classes, this results in $7,204.80 going to credits that have NO impact on their major almost comparable to one semester of tuition, which is $9006 for 15 credit hours. This problem is easy to fix, make ROTC classes count towards electives, like history or political sciences.
Cadets are at a SIGNIFICANT academic disadvantage as compared to the normal college student. Even though cadets had a higher received a GPR than the University average, it comes at a price. Because cadets are required to take certain classes and are typically dealing with more stress that the average student, most cadets end up needing to take AT LEAST one extra semester, many are here for an extra year or two. Despite the fact we, as cadets, put in comparable hours into our organization and our school that any athlete would put into their team; student-athletes are given permission to register for classes earlier than most of the school.Cadets have a HARDER time registering for classes as they have to take classes that fit around required activities and classes as best they can.
Along with the extra semester most cadets take here, there are many other “Hidden Costs” or forced payments the Corps are required to pay and, chief among them being paying $225 for football games that we are REQUIRED to attend. It is understandable that has to partially pay for the tickets, we do attend the games and are taking up the seat. But paying the same rate as other students that have an option to purchase a pass or not is ridiculous. The band is already attending games for free; the rest of the Corps is required to attend and why can’t they receive a similar benefit? The Corps is also not completely honest with how much the organization costs when recruiting. They fail to mention costs such as tickets to other required events, outfit dues, t-shirts, uniform parts (not counting uniforms which are expensive considering we’re renting them) and other small things that add up. Cadets also pay the same price as non-regs for things that, quality-wise, are not equal. It is no secret that the food in Duncan is terrible, it’s a joke among the cadets, and we pay the same amount as non-regs. Our rooms are half the price of a non-reg room, but are easily ¼ the quality. Many former cadets didn’t quit because they hated the Corps, they quit because they couldn’t afford it. It is almost robbery when you think about what we are paying for as compared to what we get in return.
One of the greatest accomplishments of the Corps is that it is growing at an exponential rate. What’s upsetting is that we are NOT being allocated housing to accommodate that growth. Cadets are now being forced to live 3 to a room; rooms specifically designed to hold 2 people and are BARELY being compensated for it financially, some outfits will have roughly 50% of their membership tripled up and sorely inconvenienced. As alluded to previously, cadets are paying over $2000 a year for a room, half of what a non-reg would pay. Our rooms are TERRIBLE, most of the furniture are in some way broken and we have limited access to amenities such as laundry machines (which are usually broken and are a good distance away for some) that are plentiful to non-regs. The Corps of Cadets should make it a PRIORITY to get acceptable housing for its cadets; we are, by law, required to live on campus. Is that an inconvenience for the University, yes, is it an excuse to force people to live in cramped, overfilled and overpriced rooms, no.
My last grievance is the borderline abus that the cadets are put through by the University. Essentially, cadets are expected to, almost at the drop of a hat, volunteer for University-affiliated activities, servers at dining events, ushers and timekeepers at sporting events, and are expected to accept that there will be little to no compensation this service. We have had evening and weekends taken away from us, because the university wants us to march into a sporting event, for a 30-second crowd pass on ESPN. Trips home and valuable study time taken away, so the school can look good. There is not a Texas A&M University commercial or pamphlet out that does not picture or mention the Corps in some way. We are used as a recruiting tool, then shoved on the backburner when we aren’t needed. It is despicable and tiring.
Sir, I want to say I am fully aware of the fact that many, if not all, of my grievances are not directly under your control. Because of your position as our Commandant, I feel that you are in the best position to make these changes happen. I also have one request, make this letter public, for all to see. Many of these changes can only be made if there is enough public pressure behind them. Let cadets read it so they can voice their own opinions; Let Ol' Ags read this so they can help push for what the Corps needs. These changes need to happen because of negative effects the current conditions will have on the future of the Corps. It will be difficult to recruit new cadets and retain the current ones if they are all forced to live 4 to a room, if they can’t afford to go to A&M because of items that they are forced to pay for or if they simply want to graduate in a reasonable amount of time. I will be posting this on various social media sites, such as Reddit and Facebook, and to various other media locations on Monday July 1st, 2013. We need to be as transparent as possible on these issues.
To sum up all of my grievances briefly: the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M is one of this nation's premiere leadership organizations and is rightfully advertised as such; all I want is for this organization and it’s members to be treated fairly and not have to deal unfair and undeserved financial, academic and situational burdens that they are already dealing with. I look forward to working together to make these changes possible.
Very Respectfully,
A. Cadet
