Texas A&M Community Calls Safety Rally at Northgate

See ‘Flyer Archive’ under ‘Downloads’ to get a pdf flyer.

On Wednesday, July 27th, 2005 at 10PM, there will be a rally to condemn
acts of racism, sexism, and homophobia in the Northgate region of
College Station, Texas and encourage Texas A&M University and the local
community to make Northgate and all of Aggieland a safer place.

The
event is titled "Make Aggieland Safe for Everyone," and Faculty and
Staff Committed to an Inclusive Campus (an organization of teachers and
staff members at TAMU) is one of the various groups that are part of
the
MASE Rally Coalition.

Rally participants will meet in front of the campus post office just
off
University Drive and then demonstrate along the campus side of that
street. The recent racist assault on Ravi Mallipeddi, a TAMU graduate
student, spurred the organizers into holding this rally.
On June 1 of
this year, Mallipeddi was assaulted by unknown individuals in a white
van at the corner of Church and College Main Streets in College
Station,
Texas. The individuals struck him with a baseball bat and shouted
racist epithets at him.

That assault, however, was not an isolated
incident. There is a long history of assaults and harassment in
Northgate directed against visible minorities, women, and gay, lesbian,
bisexual and transgender people.

Please get the word out about this rally. Forward this message to your
networks, post the attached flier, and bring a friend to the rally on
July 27th. We need everyone to get involved to Make Aggieland Safe for
Everyone.

Email from Harris Berger
Faculty and Staff Committed to an Inclusive Campus

Note: Articles linked below suggests that College Station police were slow to respond,
that they also failed to notify Texas A&M authorities, and that
when A&M authorities were made aware of the incident, they were
reluctant to denounce it in public.-gm

Officials Respond to Assault By Victoria White, The Battalion, June 21, 2005.

Police, University review procedures after June 1 assault By Matthew Watkins, The Battalion, June 22, 2005.