Special Edition, December 4, 2003 A Message From Texas A&M University President Dr. Robert M. Gates For the past several months, Texas A&M has been considering new initiatives that would enable us to do our part as a flagship university to prepare leaders for 21st century Texas and America. For its entire history, this land-grant University has had a national reputation for leadership development. We also have had a national reputation for admitting students from modest beginnings and preparing them to live extraordinary lives. For 127 years, this has been "the Aggie Miracle". Justin Morrill and Jonathan Turner, fathers of the land-grant college concept, stressed that colleges such as Texas A&M were intended "to make higher education available to all classes of students, not just a select few." In our early days, one father wrote that his Aggie son attended a school where the poor man's son and the rich man's son stand precisely on the same footing...Each student is judged by what he is and does.." That is the standard by which this University has grown in size and reputation. It is the standard that underpins all our traditions and culture. It is the standard by which we will move forward. As a college education becomes more costly, as Texas becomes more diverse, and as Texas A&M becomes more competitive, meeting our responsibilities to the people of this state has become more complex. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board has challenged the state's universities to "Close the Gaps" - to make a college education both more accessible and more affordable for the hundreds of thousands of students who will come of age in the next decade. To meet the needs of the state, to respond to the Coordinating Board's challenge, and to continue serving as a crucible of leadership development, we have developed several new initiatives, including changes in admission requirements, programs to persuade more minorities to apply to and enroll at Texas A&M, and new financial assistance for the economically disadvantaged. In all of these initiatives, we have been guided by one fundamental philosophical premise: each and every student admitted to Texas A&M will be admitted on the basis of a competitive process focused on individual achievement, merit and leadership potential. My recommendations to the Board of Regents regarding admissions, and related programmatic initiatives, involve two objectives about which I feel quite strongly. The first objective, as I have stated before, is for Texas A&M better to serve all of the citizens of the state of Texas, and that includes a better record in attracting and enrolling minorities. The second objective is that students at Texas A&M should be admitted as individuals, on personal merit - and on no other basis. The specific initiatives I will describe shortly can be summarized as follows: Texas A&M will make new and significant efforts to encourage minority students to apply for admission to the University. We want them to know of our interest in having them consider Texas A&M as the place to continue their education. For those minority students we admit, we will undertake new and significant efforts to encourage them actually to enroll, to become part of the Aggie family, and eventually to wear the Aggie ring. However, apart from quantitative admission decisions (e.g., the top 10% law), the decision on whether to admit a student will be made on an individual basis, taking into account personal achievement, merit and leadership potential. Every student who is at Texas A&M must know, now and in the future, that he or she and all students here have been admitted on personal merit. Let me describe the initiatives. Admission Requirements Currently, all students admitted to Texas A&M fall into three categories: 1) those admitted under the Texas top 10% law - this accounts for about half of our freshman class; 2) those receiving automatic academic admission, which requires scoring at least 1300 on the SAT and ranking in the top half of their high school class - about a quarter of the freshman class; 3) the remainder, those reviewed on an individual basis, with focus not only on academic achievement but also on extracurricular achievements, unusual experiences, special talents and skills, and leadership potential. This week we will propose to the Board of Regents two changes in admission requirements. First, we will ask to raise the standard for automatic academic admission from the top half of the high school graduating class to the top one-quarter. While the combined SAT Math and SAT Verbal test score of 1300 would remain unchanged, we propose that the student must score at least 600 in each of the two components of the SAT. Corresponding scores would be required for applicants choosing to present ACT test results. Based on past experience, this will reduce the number of students receiving automatic academic admission from about 1700 to about 850. This will open up roughly another 850 places in the freshman class where applicants can be evaluated on the basis of the whole person - that is, individual merit based on academic achievement, extracurricular activities, unusual experiences, leadership potential, and special talents. This group being evaluated individually likely will comprise about a third of the freshman class. Second, since 1998, all applicants for public colleges and universities in Texas have been required to complete the Texas Common Application. There are four essay questions in the application. Question A asks students to "Describe a significant setback, challenge or opportunity in your life and the impact it has had on you." Question B asks students to "Describe how you, as a student, are a good match with us as a learning community. How will your individual characteristics lead you to make a contribution to our campus? (Be sure to shape your essay to reflect the college major you have selected.)" Question C asks students for additional information "you wish to be considered in the decision to admit you" - for example, exceptional hardships or achievements, personal responsibilities, educational goals and ways in which the student has associated with the university. Question D asks the student to describe an aesthetic experience. Currently, completing any of these essays is optional in applying to Texas A&M. With the Regents' approval, we will require students to answer Questions A&B. In our effort to evaluate more students on the basis of the whole person, this will provide us with significantly more information on each applicant, particularly with respect to what each would contribute to Texas A&M. Both of these proposed changes in admission requirements are intended to give us greater flexibility and information to admit students with the potential for both academic achievement and success in what we call "the other education" at Texas A&M - leadership development and involvement in campus life. If the Regents approve these changes in admission requirements, under state law, they would not go into effect until December 2004, or for the 2005 entering class. Some will criticize our special efforts to reach out to students in Texas who are Hispanic, African-American, Asian-American, or economically disadvantaged. Some argue that promoting diversity itself is a mistake. I believe they are mistaken. Getting to know people from different cultures, from different economic circumstances, from different regions and countries, with different beliefs and backgrounds, significantly enriches learning. This, and the need to educate future leaders for the nation, were explicitly recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 2003 Grutter v. Bollinger decision, written by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Exposure to a diverse learning environment also better prepares students for the real world beyond college. Texas A&M has a unique spirit and culture, and we are proud of both. Our culture is grounded in patriotism, religious belief (however expressed), loyalty to family and to one another, a hard work ethic, character and integrity. We want all who share that culture to feel - and to be - welcome at Texas A&M. We want and need to persuade all who embrace that culture - and who meet our admission standards -- to become a part of the Aggie family. As I have said, while we will admit students solely on the basis of individual merit, we are going to intensify significantly our efforts to persuade more minorities to apply here and, for those who are admitted, we are going to do much more to try to persuade them to enroll here. To persuade more to apply, we will have more counselor and current student visits to socio-economically targeted high schools, more application workshops at target schools, and more trips to campus for students from underrepresented high schools from the Rio Grande Valley, Houston, Dallas and San Antonio. We will unveil a new program in the Rio Grande Valley called "Aggie Day", which will involve visits from representatives of admissions, financial aid, and various colleges. We will further develop a program called "Passport to College", involving trips to Texas A&M for University Outreach participants, as well as an initiative called "Aggieland 101" to bring students from targeted schools to campus. We will hold workshops on the admissions process. We will work with community based organizations. Finally, we are developing a "Parents Program" designed to encourage students to enroll by responding to questions and concerns of applicant families. An area of special emphasis will be getting minority students who meet our standards and are admitted actually to enroll. Currently, only 44% of African-American, 48% of Hispanic, and 33% of Asian-American students we admit actually enroll as students here. This contrasts with 62% of white students who are admitted and then enroll. We must persuade more minority students who we admit and who we want to come here actually to do so - to see Texas A&M as their university of choice. To this end, the Office of Admissions will significantly increase direct and personal communications with those admitted, workshops will be provided for parents, and campus visits will be arranged for those who are admitted. Admitted students will be contacted by minority and non-minority faculty as well as minority and non-minority former and current students, and by key university officials. I expect that several members of the Board of Regents, as well as I, personally will be involved in this. We also will significantly increase the involvement of our former students - "the Aggie Network", including A&M clubs and affiliated organizations hosting socials, making calls, making contact. We will increase faculty and staff involvement, provide lists of admitted minority students to each college and to professional organizations on campus. Finally, we want to identify current Texas A&M students from targeted high schools and get them involved. At the graduate student level, among other initiatives, we will be working with the other universities in The Texas A&M University System with a view to increasing the number of their graduates who come to Texas A&M in College Station for graduate studies. We will establish no numerical quotas or targets as we seek to increase the diversity of students who enroll. We only know that where we are is unacceptable, and that the future of Texas A&M depends on being more successful in attracting more minority students to join the Aggie family. The Aggie Miracle Project Texas A&M, both as a land-grant university and by virtue of its culture, has always been fundamentally a university for all the people, not exclusively for the elite. Yet, for some Texans, an education at Texas A&M is financially out of reach. Thus, we risk losing touch with the kind of people in Texas who made this university what it is - bright young people brought up in economic hardship yet brimming with desire, determination and a willingness to work hard; young people who left their homes and families in search of their dreams; young people like so many who are now among our most prominent former students. Consistent with our entire history, and in furtherance of the need to respond to the need for affordability and "Closing the Gaps", I am today announcing the Texas A&M "Regents Scholarships." Every student admitted to Texas A&M who is a first generation college student and whose family income is $40,000 or less, will be guaranteed in his or her admission letter a $5,000 per year scholarship for four years - with the ability to add other scholarships, for which many will be eligible, up to the cost of attendance. Last year, about 575 freshmen would have been eligible. For other students, Texas A&M will continue to disburse some $260 million each year in financial assistance, and we will be looking specifically at new initiatives to try to alleviate the burden on families in the $40,000-$80,000 income range. Some 70% of our students receive financial assistance and, on average, it reduces their cost of attendance by 40%. Tuition Policy Advisory Council I have one further announcement to make. While the Texas Legislature and Government have been far more supportive of higher education than in many other states, we still face a trend over the past decade of flat or declining state financial support. It is likely this will continue. Thus, we will face the need for tuition increases going forward. We need the advice and ideas of more than just administrators and faculty in looking at the various options available to us under the new law delegating decisions regarding Designated Tuition to the Board of Regents. Accordingly, I am establishing a Tuition Policy Advisory Council. Because I expect the challenge of tuition and fee increases to be with us for years, this will be a continuing Council. Those named have been appointed to the Council because of the position they hold, and when they relinquish that position or graduate, their successors in those positions will replace them on the Council. The fifteen person Council will have, in addition to faculty and administrators, seven students, one parent, and a former student. Specifically, the membership will be: Associate Executive Vice President (Mr. G. Dan Parker), chairman; Chair of the University Finance Council (Dr. Jerry Strawser, Dean of the Mays Business School); Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (search underway); Dean of Undergraduate Programs and Associate Provost for Academic Services (Dr. Mark Weichold); Chair of the Faculty Senate Academic Affairs Committee (Dr. Cady Engler); a faculty member at-large to be recommended by Faculty Senate Executive Committee (Dr. Karen Butler-Purry); President of the Federation of Texas A&M University Mothers' Clubs (Mrs. Linda Hill); President of the Association of Former Students (effective this month, Mr. Chuck Ellison); Student Body President (Mr. Matt Josefy); President of the Graduate Student Council (Mr. Josh Peschel); Speaker of the Student Senate (Mr. Matt Wilkins); President of the MSC (Ms. Elizabeth Dacus); President of the Residence Hall Association (Mr. Chris MaHaffey); Commander, Corps of Cadets (Mr. Will McAdams); and one representative to be selected each year by the presidents of the four Greek Councils from among their number. The Council will meet in January, be briefed, and discuss a proposed tuition increase for fall 2004. Subsequent consideration of alternative approaches to tuition will apply to fall 2005 and beyond. Conclusion To conclude, let me summarize with three points: 1. Admission to Texas A&M will continue to be a competitive process, in which personal merit - individual achievement, leadership potential and personal strengths - is the only criterion for admission. Gains in minority enrollment will come through enhanced outreach, not changes in admission policies, requirements and standards. Every student now and in the future can be confident he or she arrived at Texas A&M on his or her individual merits. 2. We will work aggressively to increase the number of minorities from all backgrounds who apply to Texas A&M, and we intend to be far more aggressive in trying to persuade those we admit actually to enroll - to join the Aggie family. And, we will continue our efforts to ensure that once they arrive, they find a welcoming campus and remain here to graduate. We will continually evaluate our progress and we expect to be judged by the results of our efforts. 3. We intend to remain a university that always will make a place for young men and women of modest beginnings who we believe will build extraordinary lives. This land-grant University is, and will remain, the people's university, Aavailable to all classes of students, not just a select few" and where, if I may paraphrase, "the poor man's son and daughter and the rich man's son and daughter stand precisely on the same footing....Each student judged by what he or she is and does." A final observation. The reality we all must accept is that Texas - and the nation - are part of a far more diverse, more competitive and more complex world than ever before. The reality we all must accept is that the alternative to change is stagnation and decline. The reality we all must accept is that we must do a better job of meeting our obligations and responsibilities to all of the citizens of the state of Texas in preparing its students for a changed world. This is not political correctness. It is political realism. The challenge, as always before in our history, is to make the changes necessary to assure Texas A&M's future success while preserving the traditions and culture and spirit that we hold so dear and that make us unique. Change in any large institution is challenging. Earl Rudder is a hero, an icon, to Aggies today, but when he decided to admit women, made the Corps of Cadets voluntary, and desegregated the University, there was significant controversy. His vision and his courage made possible the growth of a small, at-risk military college into a world-class university, one of the largest in the United States. The changes I am proposing are far less dramatic than those General Rudder made, but they will keep us on the right path, the path forward - continuing to build a University that is a great treasure for all Texans and for the nation, a force to be reckoned with in education and in research both nationally and globally, a great University with a unique culture and spirit. A University with a great heart, a great soul, an unparalleled intellect, a University true to its purpose and its history. An enduring crucible of leadership for Texas and for America. Subscription Information If you received this as a forward, see www.AggieNetwork.com/enews/add.aspx to update your information with The Association, and receive your own E-News in the future. To unsubscribe from this e-newsletter, click here www.AggieNetwork.com/enews/remove.aspx. To read this e-newsletter online, go to : www.AggieNetwork.com/HTMLEmails/DecSpENewsletter/Newsletter.html This is a special edition of a monthly electronic newsletter from The Association of Former Students that keeps you informed and up-to-date on happenings at Texas A&M University and throughout the Aggie community. If you received this as a forward, see www.AggieNetwork.com/login.aspx to update your information with The Association and receive your own copy. Go here to read the newsletter online.