Posted on Thu, Jan. 08, 2004
DALLAS & STATE DIGEST
Wire
Reports
AUSTIN
Lawmakers press A&M to change legacy policy
A
group of angry state lawmakers implored Texas A&M University on Wednesday to change an admissions
policy that gives preference to applicants whose parents or grandparents graduated from the
school.
Representatives of state civil rights groups indicated that they would sue the school if
the policy doesn’t change.
The school, which recently decided it would not consider
race as a factor, last year admitted through its legacy program more than 300 students who would not
have qualified otherwise.
“More students were admitted because Mom or Dad went to A&M
than the total number of African-Americans admitted,” Gary Bledsoe, president of the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said at a news conference.
Bledsoe
called the admissions program “inherently discriminatory” because blacks did not attend Texas A&M
until 1963, negating the “legacy” of many minority applicants.
“It clearly undermines
the ability of minorities to be able to get the fruits of their labor,” Bledsoe
said.
Despite the school’s refusal to consider race in admissions, A&M President Robert
Gates has promised lawmakers that he would lead a charge to increase minority
enrollment.
“As I indicated several weeks ago when I met with concerned legislators,
the admissions process has been under review and will continue to be evaluated to ensure that it
achieves one of the university’s primary objectives — that of having a student body that is more
representative of the state of Texas,” Gates said in a statement released
Wednesday.
A&M is the state’s only public school with a legacy program to boost alumni
support.
Texas Civil Rights Review 