“Ethnic diversity, however, is the ongoing challenge with the most potential to make or break A&M. The wrong president, or one who cannot galvanize the university to pursue this goal, could one day relegate A&M to the academic margins. A&M’s need for diversity is not a matter of fashion. Instead, A&M’s student and faculty makeup directly reflect its relevance for other Texans. Since 2002, Gates’ leadership increased Latino and black enrollment 86 percent and 48 percent respectively. It’s an impressive gain, but tempered by the reality that A&M’s black and Hispanic enrollment languishes at 14 percent. The Texas taxpayers who fund A&M are 50.2 percent minority.”
excerpt from ‘Diversify student body’, Houston Chronicle Editorial (Dec. 14, 2006)
Editor’s reminder: Ethnic diversity at A&M is the proximate cause for the existence of the Texas Civil Rights Review, once when it was founded in 1997 and again when it was revived in 2003. In both cases, we were motivated by a need to present stories that were not (and have never been) covered by the Houston Chronicle.–gm
Texas Civil Rights Review 