Jan. 7, 2004
Press Release
From the
Office of State Senator Rodney Ellis
State Officials, Civil Rights Advocates
Call on
Texas A&M to Correct Admissions Policies
Austin, TX// Senators Rodney Ellis and Gonzalo
Barrientos were joined by State Representative Dawnna Dukes the NAACP, LULAC, MALDEF, and the Texas
Civil Rights project for a press conference on Wednesday focusing attention on the admissions situation
at Texas A&M University. The Houston Chronicle recently reported that Texas A&M, while refusing to
take race into consideration as an admission criterion, has the most active legacy admission program in
Texas.
“To continue the Legacy Program at A&M while removing race as a consideration
for admission, in my mind, further erodes the image of this fine institution at a time that it needs to
do more to attract minority students,” said Senator Gonzalo Barrientos.
Similar press
conferences with elected officials and civil rights advocates took place simultaneously in Houston and
San Antonio as well. Participants in the press conferences highlighted the discrepancy in minority vs
Anglo enrollment at Texas A&M as well as the gap in minority vs legacy
enrollment.
“More students were admitted because mom or dad went to A&M, than the total
number of African Americans admitted,” said NAACP President Gary Bledsoe. “The Texas A&M legacy
program is inherently discriminatory towards minorities, and based on nothing even resembling
merit.”
Texas A&M admitted 358 students last year through the legacy program. Of those,
only six were African American and 27 Hispanic.
Legacy admissions programs don’t just
hurt minorities seeking an education,” explained Senator Ellis, “this program is even bad for white
kids whose parents aren’t Aggies.”
All three press conferences in Texas focused on a
single theme: Texas A&M must change its admissions policies if it truly wishes to correct its minority
gap.
“As an alumnus of Texas A&M, I am truly disappointed that the University has
chosen to create an admissions policy that is contradictory to their stated goal of seeking to improve
minority admissions,” said Representative Dawnna Dukes. “Establishing scholarships for first
generation disadvantaged minority students, while giving preference to second and third generation
advantaged students is contradictory to an even-handed policy. An aggressive attempt to recruit
historically disadvantaged applicants is not achieved by giving historically advantaged applicants a
leg up. Such an admission policy cannot possibly increase minority student
enrollment.”
Texas Civil Rights Review 