← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Texas Dissident
Thread ID: 19885 | Posts: 26 | Started: 2005-08-30
2005-08-30 05:47 | User Profile
[url=http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3328964#]A TURNING POINT: PATH TO DIVERSITY[/url]
Deeply rooted in tradition, Texas A&M is investing millions of dollars to win the trust of minority students
By MATTHEW TRESAUGUE Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
Editor's note: This is the first story in an occasional series looking at Texas A&M University's efforts to recruit and retain minority students. Colleges and universities across the state are grappling with how to enroll 600,000 new students, mostly minorities, by 2015 to mirror the state's changing demographics.
COLLEGE STATION - Jacob Tadesse arrived eight days before the start of classes at Texas A&M University and, like many freshmen, soon felt alone. So he left the sterile coolness of his dormitory room that first night without a destination in mind.
Wearing a baggy T-shirt and shorts, with his black hair in braids and beads, Tadesse started walking around campus about 10 p.m., hoping to cross paths with someone like him.
An hour later, he saw a friend from Houston. They slumped into chairs in a dormitory lobby and said, ''Howdy," the university's official greeting, to passers-by. Some stopped, others didn't.
After midnight, Tadesse counted those around him: Three blacks, three Hispanics, two Asian-Americans and seven whites. ''I wasn't expecting that," he said later.
What he expects is to succeed despite his surroundings. Texas A&M is a place where roughly 80 percent of undergraduates are white, where the 2,000 members of the quasi-military Corps of Cadets wear uniforms to class, where tradition is everything.
Tadesse, who graduated third in his class from the nearly all-black Jack Yates High School in Houston, is part of Texas A&M's bold effort to increase its minority enrollment without considering race in admissions. The goal is a student body that reflects the diversity of Texas.
The state's second-largest university has invested millions of dollars to attract students who didn't have the luxury of wealth or the best schools. The campaign reversed a seven-year decline in the number of black and Hispanic freshmen last fall, and the university is projecting big percentage increases again as classes start today.
Officials are pleased with the numbers, but realize that recruitment is a first step. Retention is another. For years, a lower percentage of black and Hispanic students have graduated within six years from Texas A&M than their white classmates.
The university is staking a lot on Tadesse, knowing his success could help draw more minority students. He is resilient and earnest and does not plan to leave without a bachelor's degree.
"People change in college because they haven't seen things in life," he said. "I feel right now that I'm a grown man."
Hard to explain
The folks who live and learn in this rural college town tend to say the same thing about Texas A&M: From the outside looking in, you can't understand it. From the inside looking out, you can't explain it.
Here in Aggieland, the students practice yells at midnight before football games at Kyle Field. No one walks on the grass outside or wears a hat inside the Memorial Student Center. And students and alumni worldwide gather every April 21 for the roll call of their dead, known as the Aggie Muster.
The traditions, and the almost religious devotion to them, have long served as selling points for the university. But many prospective minority students equate the rituals to an earlier time.
Texas A&M began as a military-training school and excluded black and female students until 1963.
Earnestine Randle, a former counselor at Yates, often heard students complain about the traditions after visiting the campus. Before Tadesse and another student arrived this fall, only one Yates graduate had enrolled at Texas A&M in three years.
"It's a tough sell," said Kenneth R. Poenisch, acting director of admissions. "Historically, there haven't been a lot of students who have come to A&M, so they don't know A&M."
The image problem is not lost on university administrators, who are grappling for ways to lure more minority students. That Texas A&M cannot close the deal with many minority students is evident in the percentage of admitted students who enroll.
Texas A&M launched the recruiting push in December 2003 after about 44 percent of black students and 48 percent of Hispanics admitted actually attended the university, compared with 63 percent of whites.
This fall, the university officials expect about 49 percent of blacks and 53 percent of Hispanics to accept admissions offers, while whites will enter at the same rate as before.
"I'm optimistic in 10 years that everyone will be accepting offers of admission at the same rate," said Mark H. Weichold, associate provost for undergraduate programs.
To get there, Texas A&M has opened recruiting centers in targeted areas throughout the state and pumped more than $8 million into new scholarship programs.
The university also has transported minority students in SUVs to campus as part of the "Very Important Prospects" program. Tadesse missed his official ride from Yates last spring but found a friend to take him. Tadesse also considered the University of Texas at Austin and Baylor University, but Texas A&M's honors program made the decision easy with a scholarship award of $5,000 a year.
Before Tadesse left Houston, friends and acquaintances in his poverty-pocked neighborhood peppered him with the same question: Why go to school where the white folks go?
"Because they let me in, and they paid me to go to school," Tadesse said in a defiant tone. ''What are you doing?"
Jumping at an opportunity
Jack Yates High School is along Sampson Street in the Third Ward, where greasy take-out joints serve oxtails, and billboards advertise malt liquor. Even with two universities within walking distance of the campus, the idea that they actually belong in college is lost on many students at Yates.
About a third of the 256 graduates in 2004 started college that fall, according to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
Despite the rough-edged neighborhood and low college-going rate, Tadesse saw an opportunity at Yates and transferred from Crockett High School in rural east Texas as a sophomore.
Because Yates enrolled more students than Crockett, Tadesse figured he had a better chance to finish in the top 10 percent of his graduating class. Under Texas law, the ranking would allow him to attend the state university of his choice.
He is 18 but hardened. After leaving Crockett, where he lived with his grandmother, he moved six times around Houston, following his single mother, who works as an apartment manager.
Still, Tadesse managed to breeze through high school with a straight-A average.
"If I didn't have smarts," he said, "I would be on the streets."
Assimilation not a goal
The sun was high above a drill field last Tuesday as hundreds of Aggies converged for horseshoes and shaved ice. A country radio station, broadcasting live from the gathering, played Redneck Yacht Club .
Before the party ended, two cadets in overalls summoned the students to practice the traditional yells for football games. In unison, they hunched forward with hands on their knees to project their voices.
Tadesse watched with a dozen black students from beneath an oak tree. One of his new friends wanted to join the yellers, but he did not budge from his spot in the shade. ''It's too hot," he said.
Assimilation is not a goal for Tadesse, who also did not attend Fish Camp, a summer program that indoctrinates freshmen to the university's traditions. Instead, he sees Texas A&M as the means to a lucrative career and maybe the wherewithal to create jobs for people from places like the Third Ward.
Tadesse, who is majoring in engineering, fasted on water and juice for a week to clear his mind before arriving at Texas A&M. "He is smart, and he has a plan," said Jeannette Maxie, a Houston-based A&M recruiter.
If Tadesse needs help along the way, he can turn to his older sister, Munit, who graduated from Crockett and is a sophomore at Texas A&M. Even then, university officials intend to pay close attention to him, as they do other minority freshmen. Many educators maintain that students need a sense of belonging to thrive in the first year. So Texas A&M will provide mentors and tutors and ask deans to check midterm grades and intervene, if necessary.
As a condition of his scholarship, Tadesse must maintain a 2.75 grade point average and be part of "a learning community" with other science students.
Still, Tadesse had doubts about the university's commitment.
"They want the (enrollment) numbers, but they don't care," he said. "A&M is still A&M."
[email]matthew.tresaugue@chron.com[/email]
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The great question no one asks or even seems interested in answering is Why? Why is 'diversity' in and of itself the supreme goal? And at what price to the traditions and character of the institution seeking to achieve it? Is destroying the A&M experience and institution itself worth achieving 'diversity'? Does that benefit the state of Texas in the long run? If Tadesse doesn't "feel" like he belongs, why doesn't he go back to Houston's Third Ward?
A&M is spending millions to recruit minorities, yet I wonder how come Prairie View A&M or Texas Southern University isn't spending millions to recruit whites to their respective campuses? What greater evidence does one need to see that diversity is really not the goal here, but rather the tearing down of the traditions, achievements and cultural comraderie of institutions that whites created and built. This kind of crap really makes me want to puke. Administrators like Weichold that push this agenda should be tarred, feathered and put on display at the Dixie Chicken before being run out of College Station on a rail.
2005-08-30 11:14 | User Profile
I hear you Tex. Do any of the brain dead out there notice the Mexican businesses popping up everywhere are plastered with signs that are only in Spanish? Ask yourself why they're not actively pursuing a white (English speaking) clientele.
[IMG]http://www.alamanceind.com/photos/siler6.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.alamanceind.com/photos/siler4.jpg[/IMG]
2005-08-30 12:19 | User Profile
"A&M is spending millions to recruit minorities, yet I wonder how come Prairie View A&M or Texas Southern University isn't spending millions to recruit whites to their respective campuses?"
There's a simple answer to that. Asians, and to a certain extent, Mexicans, tend to be more industrious than Caucasians. That's the way it is. Whites have been programmed towards laxness for the last fifty years.
2005-08-30 12:38 | User Profile
Im sure it wont be long before he fits right in...
Wearing a baggy T-shirt and shorts, with his black hair in braids and beads, Tadesse started walking around campus about 10 p.m., hoping to cross paths with someone like him.
2005-08-30 13:08 | User Profile
[QUOTE=savrola]There's a simple answer to that. Asians, and to a certain extent, Mexicans, tend to be more industrious than Caucasians. That's the way it is. Whites have been programmed towards laxness for the last fifty years.[/QUOTE] B.S. That's quite a generalization.
2005-08-30 13:42 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Sertorius]B.S. That's quite a generalization.[/QUOTE]
Not at all. I specifically wrote, that Asians, "tend to be more industrious"rather than, "are more industrious."
Btw, great rebuttal.
2005-08-30 13:55 | User Profile
I'm glad you liked it. By the way, I was referring to this comment of your's: [QUOTE]Whites have been programmed towards laxness for the last fifty years.[/QUOTE] That is a generalization.
2005-08-30 13:59 | User Profile
[QUOTE]That is a generalization.[/QUOTE]
Well...perhaps, it would be more accurate to say, the last twenty years, but reviewing the past century with a historian's eyes, I would say fifty.
2005-08-30 14:01 | User Profile
[QUOTE=savrola]There's a simple answer to that. Asians, and to a certain extent, Mexicans, tend to be more industrious than Caucasians.[/QUOTE]
Bull. You obviously haven't driven through the areas of town where "Asians" and Mexicans congregate and live. I'd rather starve than get food poisoning eating at one of their filthy local restaurants, much less live amongst them. I wouldn't wish that on any white person, even an Aggie.
2005-08-30 14:13 | User Profile
Oh, we're resorting to personal evidence, here? Surely you can do better than that.
Your town? Perhaps we could discuss mine, then, if personal evidence is the order of the day? I live in the rural South, do not frequent red-neck eateries for the same reason you profess to avoid Asian and Mexican ones. Moreover, there aren't too many Asian restaurants around, because the Asians are taking over the local Poultry industry and doing a better job of it, than the Whites. But of course, that would be personal info, unsubstantiated, and nearly valueless, to anyone with half an open mind.
2005-08-30 14:14 | User Profile
I smell Oberon.
2005-08-30 14:28 | User Profile
[QUOTE=savrola]Oh, we're resorting to personal evidence, here? Surely you can do better than that.
Oh, trust me. I can do a lot better than that, slick. Keep it up and you'll find out soon.
2005-08-30 15:02 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Texas Dissident]Oh, trust me. I can do a lot better than that, slick. Keep it up and you'll find out soon.[/QUOTE]
Do your worst...er, best.
2005-08-30 15:10 | User Profile
Happy to oblige you. G'bye, Troll.
2005-08-30 15:54 | User Profile
Good kike-busting.
2005-08-30 20:40 | User Profile
[QUOTE]I wouldn't wish that on any white person, [B]even an Aggie[/B].[/QUOTE] Spoken like a true Longhorn, Tex.
2005-08-31 00:35 | User Profile
What's an Aggie?
2005-08-31 01:21 | User Profile
[url=http://www.tamu.edu/]Texas A&M University[/url]
2005-08-31 01:35 | User Profile
Danke.
2005-08-31 02:00 | User Profile
So saying things like " What happens when an Aggie moves to Oklahoma? The IQ of both states increases by 5.", will now be deemed unpc because of the minorities. Leave it to the Aggies to mess up a good thing.
2005-08-31 04:05 | User Profile
[QUOTE=savrola]There's a simple answer to that. Asians, and to a certain extent, Mexicans, tend to be more industrious than Caucasians. That's the way it is. Whites have been programmed towards laxness for the last fifty years.[/QUOTE] savrola:
I notice you've been suspended and can't reply to this, but I'll make a few points anyway in case you're still reading the thread.
The problem I have with the way the immigration debate is framed is that white people always have to justify their opposition to immigration based on some economic argument (e.g. "Mexicans are lazy and leech off welfare") or in the name of social harmony (e.g. "We should kick the Muslims out because they are mean to the Jews"). What I want to know is, why can't we just say we don't want these immigrants coming here because THEY'RE NOT LIKE US??!?
Factually, you're right: Asians do tend to be more hardworking and industrious than White people. I don't know about Mexicans but I'm willing to concede that they might be. But why am I obliged to accept the integration of new arrivals into my community just because they contribute to optimising economic growth? Personally I think our standard of living is fine as it is. I could even stomach a drop in living standards if it mean getting more free time to do the things I like. Why do we have to accommodate influxes of immigrants (and all the attendent social conflicts) just to squeeze another 5% or whatever out of the economy? Let's not be greedy Jews here, LOL! :caiphas:
I can concede that Asian immigrants are good for the economy but still not want them here. To be blunt, that's half the reason for my stance: I'm just a lazy Caucasian and I don't want to have to compete with them :yawn:. Why am I obliged to just to fulfil some anal fixation with economic rationalism?
Different cultures have different attitudes to work, and strike a different balance between work and play. Asians work like ants in an anthill. Japanese "salarymen" work 80-hour weeks. They leave for work before their kids go to school and come home after they go to bed. They have to work late because that's the cultural expectation of one's commitment to the company. You see pictures of them crammed into subway trains asleep standing up from pure exhaustion. Koreans are similar, but not to quite the same degree.
A lot of Asians think that we Whites are a bit lazy, and I guess by their standards, we are. But who the hell wants to live like that? Not ****ing me. What about having time for the good things in life? If Asian immigrants bring with them this attitude to work then they will outcompete us and we will have to adopt their warped work ethic to keep up with them.
Conversely, Polynesians (and I suspect, blacks even more so) are near the other end of the spectrum. I spent some time in Samoa when I was a kid. Compared to living in a White society, they are lazy as hell. They do maybe 2 or 3 hours work a day, max. Everything is run down and it's a pain in the ass to get anything done. But you know what? Maybe they like it that way. They could work harder and have a better standard of living, but perhaps they think it's just not worth the effort. Hey, that's their prerogative. They have a pretty idyllic stress-free existence if you ask me. If they had to accept Asian immigration their lifestyle would be destroyed because they'd have to work their asses off to keep up with them or end up at the bottom of the social pile in their own country. I worked with a Samoan guy once during the holidays while I was at uni. It was pretty clear that he just wasn't cut out for the 40 hour work week. He'd be OK in the morning, but by about 2 or 3 in the afternoon he'd be struck down with a bad case of LNS (Lazy N*gger Syndrome) and just be a real pain in the ass to work with: irritable, useless, unhelpful etc etc. Why not ship him off back to Samoa where he could pass himself off as a hardworking decent citizen?
Some blacks consider whites "too materialistic", "uptight" or too obsessed with "getting ahead". A lot whites consider them lazy. It's just conflicting cultural expectations at play. Personally I think that the White Protestant work ethic has the perfect balance between work and play: spending time accumulating wealth and time enjoying it. But that's just me.
If "hard-working immigrants" want to come to Western countries because of opportunities not available back home, why don't they ask themselves why? Western countries have more economic opportunity because our forebears worked to built the infrastructure (both physical and political) to allow economic prosperity. Why don't they stay in their own countries and build them up to the same level? If the best and the brightest from all these third world countries come here it's just going to create a "brain drain" in their home countries that will make it take even longer for those countries to catch up.
Letting people of different cultures compete in the same economic arena is a recipe for conflict and resentment. It always is! Keep White countries White.
2005-08-31 04:25 | User Profile
[QUOTE=RowdyRoddyPiper] Letting people of different cultures compete in the same economic arena is a recipe for conflict and resentment. [/QUOTE] The competition isn't even economic, but more political and ethnic one.
2005-08-31 04:27 | User Profile
[QUOTE=madrussian]The competition isn't even economic, but more political and ethnic one.[/QUOTE] Yeah, that too. It's all three really. Economic dominance translates into political dominance, which translates into the dominance of one group over the other(s).
2005-09-01 03:36 | User Profile
The problem is that we define the word "opportunity" differently than other cultures. To us it is a way to better oneself. For the third worlders opportunity=wealth. They come here from places that don't even have electricity and think that we are very wealthy. They have no concept of our world. Like MadRussian explained, our forebearors built our society and we've inherited the opportunity to continue building it.
It's like we've been riding on the rollercoasters in the amusement park built by our great grandparents and all of a sudden these people jump the line, get into the coaster and then can't figure out why it just goes up and down and back. They don't know it's a ride in the park.
2005-09-01 03:43 | User Profile
I kinda resent the implication by some that Mexicans are harder-working than white Americans. That is a concept put into people's brains by the establishment propaganda machine. The fact that whites have very little inclination to work for slave wages shows that they are superior to Mexicans, who are a race of slaves and peons.
2005-09-01 18:01 | User Profile
There for awhile, TAMU was the only university in the US that didn't discriminate against whites in admissions. No longer.
I hope Ben Tillman's university smokes the Aggies on Saturday.