Dallas

Texas A&M President: Racism Has No Place on Campus

It's been nearly 72 hours since a group of Texas A&M students yelled racial slurs and insults at a crowd of Dallas high school students touring the campus Tuesday, but Texas A&M President Michael Young is still furious.

"I don't care if it's a staff member. I don't care if it's a professor. I don't care if it's a current student. It's wrong and it's not going to happen here," said Young, his fist pounding his desk to emphasize his outrage.

In the immediate aftermath of Tuesday's incident, Texas A&M administrators and students met with the high school students from Uplift Hampton Preparatory to ensure them that what they experienced is not tolerated on campus. It's a message Young will reiterate when he visits the students in Dallas in the future.

"Whatever that was, we're investigating it deeply and as quickly as we can, but what happened on campus is not what an Aggie is all about," he said.

Despite concerted, and successful efforts to increase the school's minority student population, Young admits that similar incidents have occurred in the past.

"There is certainly more than we should have here, absolutely. One is too many, and so any of these incidents that I hear about really break my heart," he said. "Our passion is to create an environment where every student is welcomed, included and thrives."

Students who spoke to NBC 5 offered varying opinions of how racially tolerant Texas A&M is.

"I've experienced more racism here on campus than I have in my entire life," said Kendal Gallimore, president of the university's NAACP chapter.

"I've never had any problem with race. I've never been taunted or had someone say something negative about my race," said another black student.

Several years of outreach has resulted in a thriving international community on campus, but Young said in order for the campus to be more understanding of its myriad of racial and ethnic groups, non-minority students must step up.

"Students whose lives may not take them into a lot of contact with groups that don't look like them, those are the groups that we need to have these candid and sometimes challenging conversations with," he said.

Young is hoping their nightmarish tour won't keep Uplift Hampton Prep students from choosing Texas A&M for their college education. When he travels to Dallas to meet the students, he will ask for them to join his fight to make the Texas A&M campus a better place.

"Their presence here at this university will help with that and I hope they come here," Young said.

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