SGA severs ties with FCIC due to diversity
By James Twine
Published:
Friday, February 13, 2004
The Texas A&M Student Senate severed ties with the Faculty
Committed to an Inclusive Campus (FCIC), due to differences in race-based admissions
ideals.
The two organizations had scheduled a Feb. 18 diversity march before they
realized their agenda differences, said Student Services Chair John Mathews.
Although
both organizations support diversity, the FCICsupports race-based admissions and SGA opposes race being
a factor in admissions criteria, Mathews said…. The Student Senate has authorized its diversity
team to organize a march of its own to be called Aggie March for Merit, beginning at 3:15 p.m. on Feb.
18.
The SGA march supports the admissions policy instituted by Gates as well as the
progress it will represent for diversity at A&M.
Mathews said he was disturbed because
the FCIC withheld information from SGA and others.
“So many people had united for this
cause, and to now realize that FCIC was cause, and to now realize that FCIC was hiding behind this
secret agenda is upsetting,” he said.[sic]
The bill commended Gates’ admissions
policy.
“(Gates’) admissions policy will lead to greater diversity at A&M, and we
fully support his bold decision to affirm the dignity and worth of every person by making individual
merit the only criterion for admission and refusing to institutionalize discrimination on the basis of
race, legacy, sexual orientation or any other demographic characteristic unrelated to individual
merit,” according to the bill.
Texas Civil Rights Review 