You can and you should. It's not just the student body, the student body is a product of what tu has become which is at odds with everything you hold dear! My hatred of tu has nothing to with it being a 'rivalry', it has every thing to do with what it has become. AND YOU KNOW IT !
Let me tell you a true story.
My father's best friend was a sip, a very proud sip. Orange underwear type. Even had a sip toilet lid. He was WWII vet with 10th Mountain Div. Was one of 4 survivors from his company fighting in Europe..
He had 5 kids 2 boys 3 girls we had 4 boys, Their oldest son was right between my two older brothers. they were and are still, life long best friends. My two older brothers went to A&M in class of 68 and 70 His, Bill's oldest went to tu class of 70. Both my brothers went into the Corps and also the army afterwards. Bill attended both my older brothers graduation, but he attended his son's graduation at tu class of 70 a couple of days after attending my second brother's graduation and commissioning at A&M.. WOW. what a difference.
General Westmoreland was the commencement speak. He called A&M the last bastion of sanity among publicly funded universities and he was right. The SDS were active everywhere but A&M. A couple of SDS decide to lay down in front of the band on the final review drill field and that band marched right over them!
Bill was extremely impressed and touched this guy was like a "Private Ryan" he felt that he was given life to honor those who lost theirs.
When he went to tu every thing was the opposite, yelling obscenities' during graduation, hippes every where, girls dressed proactively even those graduating, no respect for anything, giving lip to my brothers, burning the US flag. Flat anti American, totally opposite of everything he held dear and fought for. And nothing was done to stop or address it.
Bill was embarrassed, ashamed and angry, My brothers and dad where with him at his son's graduation.
The next day Bill went home took his tu diploma off the wall. folded it up and mailed it back to the President of tu with a letter attached expressing his displeasure and embarrassment for what tu had become and asked who it became this way and why was nothing done to stop the nonsense and then disavowed tu. He took every single sip item he had (he had a lot) and took out to a field and burned it all!
The next day he called the 12th man association, explained his situation and his history and asked if there was anyway he could become an honorary Aggie, his conversion was full and complete. He was double diamond donor, replaced all his tu stuff with A&M stuff and spent the last 30+ years of his life as one of the most ardent Ags I have ever know.
"only one thing is important!"