As I was resurrecting my brain cells this morning with my daily dose of caffeine, I ran across Wiginton's response to the article by Travis Robinson. I am a proud American of Mexican descent and thus was inspired to respond to some of his comments.

For millennia, various tribes of Native Americans occupied the region that is now known as Texas. Granted, they may not have "founded" this region enough to meet Wiggonton's criteria. But I think most historians would argue his point. For example, the Caddos tribe were succesful agriculturists who lived in permanent abodes. The Lipan-Apache tribe had the most contact with early Texas settlers and eventually, became allies of the Texans in campaigns against other Indians.

Let us assume for the sake of argument that the various tribes did not meet Wiggonton's founder criteria. Then I submit to you the history of the Spanish efforts into this region dating back as far as 1519. Throughout the 18th century, Spain establish Catholic missions in Texas, and along with this missions, the towns of San Antonio, Goliad, and Nacogdoches.

The only, repeat, only way one can say that the Anglos, Irish, Scots, Germans, Czechs, Norwegians and Swedes founded Texas is to believe that on January 3, 1823 God created Texas. And on that same day, Stephen F. Austin just happened to secure a land grant from the Mexican government. And from that day on, Anglos, Irish, Scots, Germans, Czechs, Norwegians, Swedes AND Mexicans worked together to build from scratch what would eventually become our great state of Texas.

In regards to Wiggonton's question as to why is there no promotion of the founding ethnicities of our state, I would like to suggest that he look at the enrollment figures for Spring of 2007. In these figures he will find that of the 33,995 undergraduates, 26,830 of them were classified as White. I do believe that the founding ethnicities are proudly represented within the 26,830.

The statement that really surprised me was the one where Wigginton claims that we fought wars against Hispanics. Wars that they agitated and thus began. Based on what I remember from my school days, relations between Mexico and Texans started to sour a bit when Mexico forbid further emigration into Texas by settlers from the United States. While I am glad that Texas eventually secured its independence from Mexico, I am not sure you could classify them as the agitators.

Last but not least, the article is far from proving that racism exists at Texas A&M. In fact, I view the effort by the institution as simply promoting diversity. As long as this fine institution does NOT lower academic qualification criteria for ANY group, I applaud their recruitment efforts.

Sincerely,

Alejandro E. Martinez
Proud Aggie Parent

PS I for one would fight the renaming of College Station as mentioned in your response. However, the correct translation is - Estacion de Colegio.

Originally posted by

Valerie Medrano

Preston, so you want A&M to stop promotion Hispanic's to Texas A&M? No, you are wrong. It's because people like you that I did not even consider attending Texas A&M until Robert Gates became president. You are overreacting with the "Stacion de College Tejas A&M." So you probably agree that just because blacks were "whites" slaves not to long that Texas A&M shouldn't embrace them. Look at the gap between the traditional A&M student and minorities, it is huge just in case you haven't noticed. Do you not want any of us here? Grow up Preston and have more class. Diversity is a beautiful thing. I love the fact that when I walk across campus I hear and see varying races and languages. You hate what you cannot understand.

Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
-MLK, Jr.

I am a PROUD Mexican-American Class of 2008, A-WHO8P!

Why do you have to refer to your self as a Mexican American? Why can't you simply be an American? If that is the case, I want to be referred to as a German-American then.

I do think that it's wrong to promote the school to race specific students. If those people want to come to A&M; that's fine, but do not recruit them based on their race alone. What usually happens is that when they arrive at A&M, they find out that it's primarily white and then go on the defensive. If they don't like the fact that A&M was an all white, male, military school, then don't come. Of course this is going to carry on through the ages because it's our history and heritage.

A&M has set up centers where I am from, the Rio Grande Valley to specifically target Hispanics. I would like to see what the statistics are on minorities that attend A&M their fish year and then leave. It just seems like time and money wasted. Instead, give that money to the general scholarship fund so that people who really want to go there can afford it.

There is nothing more that I hate than the National Hispanic Scholarship Fund. This is a racist organization. If there were to be a National Anglo Scholarship Fund, everyone would be up in arms. My point is this, let the people who want to come here come. Don't let a minority take their space just for the sake of politics. After all, isn't that why we have Prairie View and A&M Kingsville and A&M Corpus Christi?

Dustin
Class of 2005

Originally posted by

Valerie Medrano

Preston, so you want A&M to stop promotion Hispanic's to Texas A&M? No, you are wrong. It's because people like you that I did not even consider attending Texas A&M until Robert Gates became president. You are overreacting with the "Stacion de College Tejas A&M." So you probably agree that just because blacks were "whites" slaves not to long that Texas A&M shouldn't embrace them. Look at the gap between the traditional A&M student and minorities, it is huge just in case you haven't noticed. Do you not want any of us here? Grow up Preston and have more class. Diversity is a beautiful thing. I love the fact that when I walk across campus I hear and see varying races and languages. You hate what you cannot understand.

Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
-MLK, Jr.

I am a PROUD Mexican-American Class of 2008, A-WHO8P!

Valerie Medrano,

You yourself are creating a minority. I too am a Mexican-American and attending Texas A&M University. You cannot expect special treatment because of your race.I am embarassed by people like you. Understand we are not equal untill races stop demanding special treatment because they are "less capable" than dominant races.

Originally posted by

Valerie Medrano

Preston, so you want A&M to stop promotion Hispanic's to Texas A&M? No, you are wrong. It's because people like you that I did not even consider attending Texas A&M until Robert Gates became president. You are overreacting with the "Stacion de College Tejas A&M." So you probably agree that just because blacks were "whites" slaves not to long that Texas A&M shouldn't embrace them. Look at the gap between the traditional A&M student and minorities, it is huge just in case you haven't noticed. Do you not want any of us here? Grow up Preston and have more class. Diversity is a beautiful thing. . You hate what you cannot understand.

Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
-MLK, Jr.

I am a PROUD Mexican-American Class of 2008, A-WHO8P!

Valerie,

"Preston, so you want A&M to stop promotion Hispanic's to Texas A&M? No, you are wrong."

First off, what's wrong is your grammar.

Secondly, you don't just get to tell people that they're wrong(sorry, you were probably really hoping you had that authority), especially when this person wasn't posting a fact, he was posting an opinion (which you obviously didn't fully understand anyway)--and opinions don't have a right or wrong (in case you were wondering).

And "So you probably agree that just because blacks were "whites" slaves not to long that Texas A&M shouldn't embrace them. " ( <-- There were more grammatical errors there, by the way.)

Please elaborate on how you came to that conclusion from what Preston put in his post.

"Do you not want any of us here?"

Again, where did you get that from?

"I love the fact that when I walk across campus I hear and see varying races and languages. You hate what you cannot understand."

I highly doubt he "hates" other races, AND didn't you previously say that the gap between traditional A&M students and minorities was huge? So why are you now making it sound like they are so prevalent on campus?

Also, your quote doesn't support your argument.

And what exactly were you trying to argue in the first place? You SHOULD be proud you are a Mexican-American because a "traditional A&M student" (read=not a minority) would never be admitted to Texas A&M if they wrote like you.

Stay classy, Val.

Originally posted by

Lisa

Dustin, if someone wants to refer to themselves as a Mexican-American or German-American or Indian-American or African-American who cares? I am also a Mexican-American but before I am ANYTHING else, I am an American, a Texan, and an Aggie. So don't get upset by the labels.

"If they don't like the fact that A&M was an all white, male, military school, then don't come". -The operative word here is WAS. It WAS an all-white, male, military school. But not anymore! Change is GOOD. We still have the corps and our academics are outstanding. I'm sure you are also unhappy they let in women and those danged minorities. The fact is, an all-white male school does not represent the demographics of our great state.

"Don't let a minority take their space just for the sake of politics. After all, isn't that why we have Prarie View and A&M Kingsville and A&M Corpus Christi?" That's right, keep the minorities segregated at "their" school. You talk about a scholarship fund that you think is racist but I think you should look at yourself and if the shoe fits...

-Lisa
Class of 2007 WHOOP!

So, I suppose that you would not get upset if I called you a Mexican? I know that I get upset when I have Spanish speaking people call me a gringo or guero? That is why I get upset about your label of Mexican-American.

Funny how you left out the line where I mentioned that being an all white, male military school was part of our history, heritage and culture. Its part of our tradition. And that will carry on through the ages.

Now, if you are so naive that you can honestly tell me that we do not have these minority schools in the A&M system just to have our overall numbers look more diverse, then you ma'am are wrong. It's politics.

Why does the main campus of A&M have to be diverse? Why cant it be open to who wants to come. If they want to come, they will have proved themselves through academics and extracurricular activities to distance themselves from the pack. Those are the students that A&M wants.

Dustin
Class of 2005

Hello Dusty,

Just think if TAMU wasn't diverse (as you would wish it to be), you wouldn't have a football team or basketball team competing in the Big12. You'd be at a Division III school at best. How naive you and your white compadres are. You are not what a true Aggie represents. Thank God for people with brains, like our former president Robert Gates.

Originally posted by

Lisa

Dustin, if someone wants to refer to themselves as a Mexican-American or German-American or Indian-American or African-American who cares? I am also a Mexican-American but before I am ANYTHING else, I am an American, a Texan, and an Aggie. So don't get upset by the labels.

"If they don't like the fact that A&M was an all white, male, military school, then don't come". -The operative word here is WAS. It WAS an all-white, male, military school. But not anymore! Change is GOOD. We still have the corps and our academics are outstanding. I'm sure you are also unhappy they let in women and those danged minorities. The fact is, an all-white male school does not represent the demographics of our great state.

"Don't let a minority take their space just for the sake of politics. After all, isn't that why we have Prarie View and A&M Kingsville and A&M Corpus Christi?" That's right, keep the minorities segregated at "their" school. You talk about a scholarship fund that you think is racist but I think you should look at yourself and if the shoe fits...

-Lisa
Class of 2007 WHOOP!