On this bizarre Aggie Football eve I've been thinking a lot of how Texas A&M would have to present itself in this era of "racial injustice, anti-racism, critical race theory and racial equity." Many universities have caved to these concepts, including A&M initially, out of fear of being call racists.

I like to think there was a time that Texas A&M, and Aggies by extension didn't care about what the outside world thought. "From the outside looking in you can't understand it, from the inside looking out you can't explain it."

However this has been lost in newer generations. Aggies used to be trained in the core values of Texas A&M to go out there and be leaders in the world, and we've done that well for a very long time. However in the past 5-10 years a sickness has creeped in. Victimization, Oppression, and entitlement. It festered behind the scenes for a long time, not so much at A&M as other places, but it was there. In gender studies, sociology. Professors like Michael Alvard.

At some point A&M needs to decide for itself if it is going to be the A&M that turned regular high school kids into the leaders of tomorrow, or a school that throws all of that away.

This allows put it the best to me:

It was Judgment Day in Aggieland
And tenseness filled the air;
All knew there was a trip at hand,
But not a soul knew where.

Assembled on the drill field
Was the world-renowned Twelfth Man,
The entire fighting Aggie team
And the famous Aggie Band.

And out in front with Royal Guard
The reviewing party stood;
St. Peter and his angel staff
Were choosing bad from good.

First he surveyed the Aggie team
And in terms of an angel swore,
"By Jove, I do believe I've seen
This gallant group before.

I've seen them play since way back when,
And they've always had the grit;
I've seen 'em lose and I've seen 'em win,
But I've never seen 'em quit.

No need for us to tarry here
Deciding upon their fates;
Tis plain as the halo on my head
That they've opened Heaven's gates."

And when the Twelfth Man heard this,
They let out a mighty yell
That echoed clear to Heaven
and shook the gates of Hell.

"And what group is this upon the side,"
St. Peter asked his aide,
"That swelled as if to burst with pride
When we our judgment made?"

"Why, sir, that's the Cadet Corps
That's known both far and wide
For backing up their fighting team
Whether they won, lost or tied."

"Well, then," said St. Peter,
"It's very plain to me
That within the realms of Heaven
They should spend eternity.

And have the Texas Aggie Band
At once commence to play
For their fates too we must decide
Upon this crucial day."

And the drum major so hearing
Slowly raised his hand
And said, "Boys, let's play The Spirit
For the last time in Aggieland."

And the band poured forth the anthem
In notes both bright and clear
And ten thousand Aggie voices
Sang the song they hold so dear.

And when the band had finished,
St. Peter wiped his eyes
And said, "It's not so hard to see
They're meant for Paradise."

And the colonel of the Cadet Corps said
As he stiffly took his stand,
"It's just another Corps Trip, boys,
We'll march in behind the band."


Grit. Pride. Fight. These things used to encompass the students here who wanted to be Aggies. I hope Texas A&M takes steps to preserve it in a wave of insanity.

The sad part is, for some reason I have to post this in forum 16.

Ok I'm done. Thanks and Gig 'Em. BTHO Vandy.

#notanotherdown

10% rule screwed us all.

C@LAg said:

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that A&M has not existed in 40+ years.

Yes bits and pieces of it linger until today, but that is from another time.

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I know that's a fun "when Ol' Army ended" talking point, but I can promise you it was still there in '05-'09.

Agricultural and Mechanical

10thYrSr said:

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10% rule screwed us all.

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10% rule didn't force John Sharp to want 80,000 students.

The real Texas A&M stands for the national anthem

C@LAg said:

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10thYrSr said:

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10% rule screwed us all.

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letting women into the school screwed us all.

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Yes it did! Thank goodness!

C@LAg said:

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Nonregdrummer09 said:

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C@LAg said:

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that A&M has not existed in 40+ years.

Yes bits and pieces of it linger until today, but that is from another time.

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I know that's a fun "when Ol' Army ended" talking point, but I can promise you it was still there in '05-'09.

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and I was there before you and the school was already changing. more urban students, more liberal students, more people with a different way of thinking.

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When I attended during those years, we were 45K and less students. The creep was always there, biut the biggest change happened when we went to almost 70K. Now we have students attending who otherwise would not, probably because it's second choice, affordable (relatively speaking, it's all overpriced now) and easy as hell to get into.

Used to be folks wanted to be Aggies. Now they want Aggies to be like them. This problem I fear is impossible to correct. Maybe if we drop students sub 50K again or even less.

Trying to "meet the needs of Texas" screwed us pretty hard.

10thYrSr said:

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10% rule screwed us all.

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Yes but with leftists in charge, we are screwed either way. Without the 10% Rule, admissions would be gerrymandering through racial preferences even more of the student body than they already do.

10thYrSr said:

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10% rule screwed us all.

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I don't think it was that, per se, but the elimination of on campus Bonfire. And many of us predicted it very shortly thereafter. Like within months.

91AggieLawyer said:

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10thYrSr said:

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10% rule screwed us all.

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I don't think it was that, per se, but the elimination of on campus Bonfire. And many of us predicted it very shortly thereafter. Like within months.

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91AggieLawyer said:

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10thYrSr said:

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10% rule screwed us all.

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I don't think it was that, per se, but the elimination of on campus Bonfire. And many of us predicted it very shortly thereafter. Like within months.

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I think the 10% did play a major role. There are many , many students at A&M who don't care about being Aggies, they just went there because they could get in.

There are 10000 at Blinndergarten, and 10's of thousands more at places like tech, tarleton, sam, and others, who wanted to be Aggies, but were 8th in a class of 50, or 63 in a class of 500.

Texas A&M stands for diversity in offering leadership opportunities. It stands for valor, sacrifice, & service. A few criminal dolts don't change the best university in the best state. It's a Holy place with a special place in the heart of all who truly understand service and love for the state. Bright with a thousand points of light leading the state. Aggie Proud!

SunrayAg said:

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91AggieLawyer said:

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10thYrSr said:

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10% rule screwed us all.

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I don't think it was that, per se, but the elimination of on campus Bonfire. And many of us predicted it very shortly thereafter. Like within months.

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I think the 10% did play a major role. There are many , many students at A&M who don't care about being Aggies, they just went there because they could get in.

There are 10000 at Blinndergarten, and 10's of thousands more at places like tech, tarleton, sam, and others, who wanted to be Aggies, but were 8th in a class of 50, or 63 in a class of 500.

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This. A disproportionate number of new students are top 10%. They came here because of the Aggie reputation that was earned a generation or more ago. The problem is, a large chunk of these new students don't want to work to continue and maintain that tradition of excellence. And are now watering down the student population. They are paper chasing what they have been told was a good name to have on the degree. Quite a few don't give a damn about actually being an Aggie. It just looks good.

This unbridled acceleration to a watered down mediocrity is painfully obvious to those who have been around the school for a while.

It was always going to happen at this pace. Always. There are simply too many people on campus that don't care. Faculty on down.

I have attended three state schools now. Getting a lot harder to tell them apart from each other in feel and ambiance.

With the leftward lurch A&M has taken lately it's beginning to resemble a certain school 90 miles west of it.

I have seen a shift away from tradition since the last day of Bonfire.

I graduated in 1990. Small towns sent a lot of kids to A&M because of family. Lots of white, farmer, ranchers kids. Kids whose grandfathers were in the Corp of Cadets. Majority of those old timers were white.

The idea that diversity of skin color and race was the key for achieving the next level of excellence has had the most detrimental effect on changing the A&M culture.

A&M in its quest to pull minorities in threw money at kids who came to A&M not because of it traditional values but because it was free.

Nothing is worse then when someone takes the free money, doesn't even take the time to understand the true history of A&M and then out of a National no movement has to manipulate history to create a SJW target.

In all of the time I have spent on campus I have never seen white student chase and harass black students. Frankly what I see is a trend where black kids coalesce together and stay away integrating into the student population as an individual.

A&M leadership controls what A&M stands for....progressive have complete control. Conservative alumni aren't going to fight for their school or their own political beliefs.

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Nothing is worse then when someone takes the free money, doesn't even take the time to understand the true history of A&M and then out of a National no movement has to manipulate history to create a SJW target.

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Allowing a progressive to become president is much worse.

I can appreciate the sentiment, but bringing skin color into it isn't helping your case. There are tons of non-white Americans who are a better cultural fit at A&M than some of the white skinned Texas natives who have rings.

ex. A descendent of Mexicans or Indians farming in Oklahoma would be much more culturally aligned with A&M's roots than most white kids from Dallas.

triplemiller said:

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A&M leadership controls what A&M stands for....progressive have complete control. Conservative alumni aren't going to fight for their school or their own political beliefs.

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What's funny is this isn't even about conservatives or progressives. This is about something much more important. This really bad idea of CRT and the off-shoots from it are tearing at other universities, and I guarantee you there are professors here, even progressive ones, that think this "scholarship" is terrible but they can't say anything, because the mob will come for them

Get Off My Lawn said:

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I can appreciate the sentiment, but bringing skin color into it isn't helping your case. There are tons of non-white Americans who are a better cultural fit at A&M than some of the white skinned Texas natives who have rings.

ex. A descendent of Mexicans or Indians farming in Oklahoma would be much more culturally aligned with A&M's roots than most white kids from Dallas.

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Disagree with the bolder part. The point is the A&M admin long ago made recruiting, admissions and scholarship an issue of race. It clearly has had an effect. Pointing out the racism of others isn't the problem.

Mr. AGSPRT04 said:

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Get Off My Lawn said:

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I can appreciate the sentiment, but bringing skin color into it isn't helping your case. There are tons of non-white Americans who are a better cultural fit at A&M than some of the white skinned Texas natives who have rings.

ex. A descendent of Mexicans or Indians farming in Oklahoma would be much more culturally aligned with A&M's roots than most white kids from Dallas.

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Disagree with the bolder part. The point is the A&M admin long ago made recruiting, admissions and scholarship an issue of race. It clearly has had an effect. Pointing out the racism of others isn't the problem.

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I want to make something very clear: my post is not about skin color or race, but it is about critical race theory and its other similar theologies. These things are also not actually about race, they just pretend to be.

But there have been great Aggies of every race, color, religion, national origin, or orientation. That is what makes being an Aggie great if you're willing to invest in those core values.

CRT is about tearing down those core values to replace them with victimization and grievance.

10thYrSr said:

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10% rule screwed us all.

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This and the elimination of the "legacy" provision for admission. When kids who wanted to go here for all their lives because they were raised bleeding maroon are denied admission because they fall outside the 10 percent threshold - though still academically solid - you lose a whole cohort of students who are almost genetically wired to embrace the Spirit.

The legacy system was also removed. My family has been on campus since my Great Grandfather was the dean of agronomy back in the 20's and 30's. The tradition unfortunately ends with me since my son was unable to get in.

C@LAg said:

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10thYrSr said:

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10% rule screwed us all.

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letting women into the school screwed us all.

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As someone who graduated before there were many women who attended A&M, that statement, taken literally, makes me very jealous.

Texas A&M stands for this:



and this:



and this:




























and most definitely this:

...and maybe a little bit of this:

You have never read Texas A & M's mission statement.

"Texas A&M University is dedicated to the discovery, development, communication, and application of knowledge in a wide range of academic and professional fields. Its mission of providing the highest quality undergraduate and graduate programs is inseparable from its mission of developing new understandings through research and creativity. It prepares students to assume roles in leadership, responsibility and service to society. Texas A&M assumes as its historic trust the maintenance of freedom of inquiry and an intellectual environment nurturing the human mind and spirit. It welcomes and seeks to serve persons of all racial, ethnic and geographic groups as it addresses the needs of an increasingly diverse population and a global economy. In the 21st century, Texas A&M University seeks to assume a place of preeminence among public universities while respecting its history and traditions."

Everything else is someone's interpretation of what Texas A & M should be.

https://www.tamu.edu/statements/mission.html

Texas A&M got into empire building. Bigger is better. More money. More power. More students. Bigger stadiums. Bigger jumbo-trons. Keeping up with the Jones's.

It really is amazing how human nature is. You have a great thing going - but it's never good enough. You always gotta get more.

Also, don't overlook the impact of no longer playing t.u.

I know, I know.

But playing t.u. gave the student body a rallying point like no other. Put meaning behind "saw varsity's horns off."

I had a recent grad - someone who grew up in College Station - tell me not long ago that the loss of Bonfire and the t.u. rivalry had a significant eroding impact on student esprit de corps.