Texas A&M University said:

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milner79 said:

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Windy City Ag said:

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Bring back legacy admissions

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This is not happening.

The vast majority of Old Ags would not make the cut these days and the legislature loves the Top 7% rule. There is almost no one who wants to dumb down admissions for legacies.

It is what it is.

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Legacy admission, IMO, does not have to mean automatic admission. But it could be a weighted factor that is (seriously) considered in that mysterious mix Admissions calls "holistic review."

All things being academically equal, I would a lot rather award admission to an Aggie legacy than to another candidate. I would a lot rather admit an academically qualified student who has been coming to campus on weekends all their young life, has an appreciation for traditions, and sees themselves as part of a continuation of an Aggie family legacy.

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F that.

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Ironic post is ironic.

AxelFoley85 said:

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Doctor of education eh? Real Dr. Jill Biden of her.

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What did you call your professors? "Mr"? I would say referring to her as "Dr" is quite fitting in this situation.

aTm2004 said:

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MelvinUdall said:

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TA-OP said:

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25Lighters said:

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… the benefits of conservatism at work in education.

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Thats hilarious. If not for conservatives, we wouldn't have massive over-testing (plus the resulting budget explosion for it) and "No Child Left Behind."

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That's true…what the DOE and teachers unions have done have produced so much more…very good points.

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Ladies ladies ladies...can we just all agree that government involved in schools is a disaster regardless of party?

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I fully agree, it was just my counterpoint that he will never acknowledge.

Can we just have a president that is not in the national news?

25Lighters said:

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The Rudder Association approves so it looks like a great hire!

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What did they think of the Banks hire?

Kenneth_2003 said:

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Ryan the Temp said:

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BonfireNerd04 said:

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Ryan the Temp said:

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What are we on, 10 presidents in 20 years or something like that? I hope she makes it more than a year.

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10th one in this millennium (after Bowen, Gates, Davis*, Murano, Loftin, Hussey*, Young, Junkins*, Banks, and Welch).

* = Interim presidents not promoted to President

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Add Williams* then her, and that makes 12. That just screams "stability." I love A&M, but 12 presidents in that span of time is making us look like a clown show.

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I don't disagree there has been entirely too much turnover at the top, really going back to 2000. Though Gates' departure to serve as SecDef, and Dr. Loftin's departure would be the noteable exceptions.

What do all of those hires post-Gates do have in common not including this one?

• Chancellor John Sharp

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The only consistent thing with John Sharp has been the horrible concessions contract with Levy

Aggie97 said:

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Ag CPA said:

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WTF is a "System Aggie".

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Supposedly anyone that graduates from any A&M system school such as Tarelton. West Texas A&M, East Texas A&M, A&M-Corpus etc...

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So.. Not an Aggie. Got it.

TA-OP said:

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25Lighters said:

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… the benefits of conservatism at work in education.

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Thats hilarious. If not for conservatives, we wouldn't have massive over-testing (plus the resulting budget explosion for it) and "No Child Left Behind."

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Yes, educators are failing students when the basics, reading, writing and arithmetic are ignored.

As we all know the brainwashing of educators in higher education continues.

https://www.sociologyjournal.net/archives/2025/vol7issue1/PartE/7-1-77-195.pdf

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Implications I- For Policy Makers

Attempts to legislate ideology out of education-such as banning "critical" or "radical" theories-threaten academic freedom and violate international norms of higher education autonomy.

Funding frameworks should encourage pluralistic intellectual exploration, not ideological conformity. Independent review boards may help ensure that academic programs are evaluated on scholarly merit, not political expediency.


II- For Scholars and Educators

Faculty must remain vigilant against self-censorship and defend the academic legitimacy of Marxist, postcolonial, and critical theoretical frameworks.

There is room to innovate pedagogically, integrating Marxist and other critical traditions into interdisciplinary conversations about climate justice, technology ethics, and democratic renewal.

Future research could explore the longitudinal effects of ideological exposure in universities on students' civic behaviors, political beliefs, and career trajectories.


III- For University Administrators

There is an urgent need for clear, transparent policies regarding protests, academic expression, and political speech on campus. Vague rules invite selective enforcement and reputational damage.

Administrators should invest in dialogue-based conflict resolution mechanisms that bring together students, faculty, and constructively. leadership to manage dissent

Ideological surveillance or punitive responses risk alienating student populations and damaging the institution's public image as a space for free thought.

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Kenneth_2003 said:

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Ryan the Temp said:

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BonfireNerd04 said:

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Ryan the Temp said:

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What are we on, 10 presidents in 20 years or something like that? I hope she makes it more than a year.

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10th one in this millennium (after Bowen, Gates, Davis*, Murano, Loftin, Hussey*, Young, Junkins*, Banks, and Welch).

* = Interim presidents not promoted to President

---

Add Williams* then her, and that makes 12. That just screams "stability." I love A&M, but 12 presidents in that span of time is making us look like a clown show.

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I don't disagree there has been entirely too much turnover at the top, really going back to 2000. Though Gates' departure to serve as SecDef, and Dr. Loftin's departure would be the noteable exceptions.

What do all of those hires post-Gates do have in common not including this one?

• Chancellor John Sharp

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I'm optimistic that Hegar is going to provide stable leadership and we won't see as much turnover anymore. Early returns seem positive. It sounds like he was very intentional with this latest Presidential search and tried to find someone with the credentials but also a 'culture' fit who understands what Texas A&M is about.

Burdizzo said:

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Kenneth_2003 said:

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Ryan the Temp said:

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BonfireNerd04 said:

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Ryan the Temp said:

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What are we on, 10 presidents in 20 years or something like that? I hope she makes it more than a year.

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10th one in this millennium (after Bowen, Gates, Davis*, Murano, Loftin, Hussey*, Young, Junkins*, Banks, and Welch).

* = Interim presidents not promoted to President

---

Add Williams* then her, and that makes 12. That just screams "stability." I love A&M, but 12 presidents in that span of time is making us look like a clown show.

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I don't disagree there has been entirely too much turnover at the top, really going back to 2000. Though Gates' departure to serve as SecDef, and Dr. Loftin's departure would be the noteable exceptions.

What do all of those hires post-Gates do have in common not including this one?

• Chancellor John Sharp

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The only consistent thing with John Sharp has been the horrible concessions contract with Levy

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Levy is on my "when I'm King for a day" list for sure.

Oh please, we (I included), routinely dunked on Biden's use of the word Dr.

Ballabina -
"It's not personal… it's strictly academic."

Burdizzo said:

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Kenneth_2003 said:

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Ryan the Temp said:

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BonfireNerd04 said:

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Ryan the Temp said:

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What are we on, 10 presidents in 20 years or something like that? I hope she makes it more than a year.

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10th one in this millennium (after Bowen, Gates, Davis*, Murano, Loftin, Hussey*, Young, Junkins*, Banks, and Welch).

* = Interim presidents not promoted to President

---

Add Williams* then her, and that makes 12. That just screams "stability." I love A&M, but 12 presidents in that span of time is making us look like a clown show.

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I don't disagree there has been entirely too much turnover at the top, really going back to 2000. Though Gates' departure to serve as SecDef, and Dr. Loftin's departure would be the noteable exceptions.

What do all of those hires post-Gates do have in common not including this one?

• Chancellor John Sharp

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The only consistent thing with John Sharp has been the horrible concessions contract with Levy

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And the one with Pepsi

I hope that she keeps the crazies in the faculty senate in their place. Nut jobs abound in that sewer

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"Vast majority?" Give me a break…

Yeah because it's much better to be a 70,000 student body diploma mill. Some of us dumb ol' Ags did pretty well for ourselves and are contributing to support the university. You don't have to dumb down admissions to honor legacy.

I'd say my opinion is a little more popular than yours.

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No breaks should be given and my remarks had nothing to do with the great careers of alums or anything else.

It is just recognizing that A&M was a very different place up until the late 80s. It was smaller, the applicant pool was smaller, and the state was smaller. The entrance standards even in my day in the early 90s were laughably simple and much easier compared to today.

These days kids with excellent GPAs, 33 ACT scores, and extracurriculars out the wazoo are rejected almost immediately from their colleges of choice like business or engineering due to the overwhelming size of the applicant pool. Most are funneled into Blinn team options or just rejected outright.

I don't think it is a good thing. A&M's admissions process is like a fast food franchise with random regional folks using crude decision rules to process way too many applications. Grade inflation has become so rampant across Texas high schools that any kid that steps into more competitive situations and gets a B puts themselves at a disadvantage. Most extracurriculars are just faked these days.

American society has created an ugly higher education beast and A&M has been swept up in it like every other university.

Windy City Ag said:

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"Vast majority?" Give me a break…

Yeah because it's much better to be a 70,000 student body diploma mill. Some of us dumb ol' Ags did pretty well for ourselves and are contributing to support the university. You don't have to dumb down admissions to honor legacy.

I'd say my opinion is a little more popular than yours.

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No breaks should be given and my remarks had nothing to do with the great careers of alums or anything else.

It is just recognizing that A&M was a very different place up until the late 80s. It was smaller, the applicant pool was smaller, and the state was smaller. The entrance standards even in my day in the early 90s were laughably simple and much easier compared to today.

These days kids with excellent GPAs, 33 ACT scores, and extracurriculars out the wazoo are rejected almost immediately from their colleges of choice like business or engineering due to the overwhelming size of the applicant pool. Most are funneled into Blinn team options or just rejected outright.

I don't think it is a good thing. A&M's admissions process is like a fast food franchise with random regional folks using crude decision rules to process way too many applications. Grade inflation has become so rampant across Texas high schools that any kid that steps into more competitive situations and gets a B puts themselves at a disadvantage. Most extracurriculars are just faked these days.

American society has created an ugly higher education beast and A&M has been swept up in it like every other university.

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Looking at some of the very negative press that has come out of the University over the past several years, I wonder sometimes if A&M wasn't being swept as much as leading the charge.

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Looking at some of the very negative press that has come out of the University over the past several years, I wonder sometimes if A&M wasn't being swept as much as leading the charge.

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This is fair. There were intentional voices at the top of the university leadership that detailed specifically how to explode university enrollment and actively push access to the school into every corner of the state, country, and overseas.

That has come at a real cost to many, many more than qualified kids who are legacies.

Ryan the Temp said:

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BonfireNerd04 said:

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Ryan the Temp said:

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What are we on, 10 presidents in 20 years or something like that? I hope she makes it more than a year.

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10th one in this millennium (after Bowen, Gates, Davis*, Murano, Loftin, Hussey*, Young, Junkins*, Banks, and Welch).

* = Interim presidents not promoted to President

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Add Williams* then her, and that makes 12. That just screams "stability." I love A&M, but 12 presidents in that span of time is making us look like a clown show.

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Texas A&M has an interesting System structure. The chair of the system (chancellor, previously John Sharp) is higher than the university president. So the university president becomes this middle man position.

There are other university systems where the Chancellor of the system also sits as the president of the flagship. This 'solves' this problem but then creates too much power which some see as a problem, but realistically too much detail the chancellor is over.

You're only going to get a good president when the chancellor views their own position like an AD hiring a good football coach. Sharp viewed the chancellorship as the head football coaching position and such there was chaos beneath him.

Generally, women in executive leadership are signs that of turmoil and represent shorter tenures. I consider this A&M punting for two years until they can reshuffle the deck and try again.

TA-OP said:

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25Lighters said:

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… the benefits of conservatism at work in education.

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Thats hilarious. If not for conservatives, we wouldn't have massive over-testing (plus the resulting budget explosion for it) and "No Child Left Behind."

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The reason that we have more testing is simple -- kids are learning less. We can argue about the reasons (teachers, parents, screens...) but simply measuring it is not a big problem in itself and crucial to see if we improve or get worse.

The problem is not the testing, but the way that schools have reacted to the testing. That's mainly on administrators. To a lesser degree on teachers and parents.

But yes, I agree with your subtext; it would suck to be a teacher nowadays in public school.

B-1 83 said:

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AxelFoley85 said:

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Doctor of education eh? Real Dr. Jill Biden of her.

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What did you call your professors? "Mr"? I would say referring to her as "Dr" is quite fitting in this situation.

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He's mocking everyone who referred to Jill Biden as DOCTOR Jill Biden at all times, like her having her doctorate was important in the conversation. "Today, DOCTOR Jill Biden ordered a chocolate/vanilla swirl soft serve ice cream after lunch today..."

In this instance, the Dr. part would be relevant.

Barnyard96 said:

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Ag CPA said:

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WTF is a "System Aggie".

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Probably someone who has done more for this university than you have. HTH.

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Need more good Ags like me. I was a Century Club Member for the year 2013. I still have my plaque to prove it if anyone doubts me.

Also, there are deeper problems than just 'A&M is a clown show'.

There is a backlash from the state about how left coded state institutions have become, especially with DEI, and specifically towards A&M because A&M is supposed to be conservative. A&M has historically tried to cozy up to liberal, secular values over the past 40 years to improve its own image.

At the root of this rejection of DEI has to be an embrace of some deeper values. A value system that doesn't wantonly embrace 'equality' and 'unity' for their own sake. And invoking a deeper value system means requires uprooting all of secularism and by collateral damage, Protestantism. And making explicit claims about the Christian God as authority. Something that was implicit in 99.9% of the student body during the hey-day of A&M's cultural foundations.

And that also means making hard stances about women in higher education, women in the workforce, women as students, abortion, premarital sex, coed housing, the role of man as the head, and universal sufferage.

And A&M doesn't want to do any of that. They want to just be conservative (TM), keep the money rolling in, keep growing the brand. Don't throw away 50 years of 'progress'. Especially since the most celebrated man on campus (Rudder) is both this extremely manly warrior class (Ranger) who also is a progressive who allowed women in.

This is mostly why the 'right' does really bad at counter-reforms. Because most of 'conservatives' nowadays will reject third wave feminism but full throated support first wave feminism.

A&M will continue to struggle with its own identity for the foreseeable future. Basically forever.

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I'm optimistic that Hegar is going to provide stable leadership and we won't see as much turnover anymore. Early returns seem positive. It sounds like he was very intentional with this latest Presidential search and tried to find someone with the credentials but also a 'culture' fit who understands what Texas A&M is about.

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If you ask 100 A&M grads to define what A&M is about, you'll get a wide range of responses.

It is first and foremost a landgrant university and a state public university with a state mandate to provide high quality higher education and perform valuable research. Additionally, A&M is assigned by law a number of other important ancillary functions which assist the state's residents, the state government, and the state economy. And although we are a state university, we take in a lot of federal funding. In return there are federal requirements, research projects, and ancillary federal functions A&M performs.

We Ags love to talk about our traditions, culture, Aggie Spirit, keepers of the flame, etc. and it is true all that stuff matters some. But in reality the above foundational mandates, responsibilities, and duties matter the most and supercede everything else.

techno-ag said:

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25Lighters said:

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The Rudder Association approves so it looks like a great hire!

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Good. Hopefully not a lib.

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Fingers crossed. Looks more like a classy TX lady than your typical disgruntled liberal, but we shall see.

DeschutesAg said:

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I'm optimistic that Hegar is going to provide stable leadership and we won't see as much turnover anymore. Early returns seem positive. It sounds like he was very intentional with this latest Presidential search and tried to find someone with the credentials but also a 'culture' fit who understands what Texas A&M is about.

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If you ask 100 A&M grads to define what A&M is about, you'll get a wide range of responses.

It is first and foremost a landgrant university and a state public university with a state mandate to provide high quality higher education and perform valuable research. Additionally, A&M is assigned by law a number of other important ancillary functions which assist the state's residents, the state government, and the state economy. And although we are a state university, we take in a lot of federal funding. In return there are federal requirements, research projects, and ancillary federal functions A&M performs.

We Ags love to talk about our traditions, culture, Aggie Spirit, keepers of the flame, etc. and it is true all that stuff matters some. But in reality the above foundational mandates, responsibilities, and duties matter the most and supercede everything else.

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Which is why I think selecting someone who, while not an Aggie graduate, has spent a lot of time in the system and understands things from an administrative/leadership perspective but has cultural familiarity could be happy medium.

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Which is why I think selecting someone who, while not an Aggie graduate, has spent a lot of time in the system and understands things from an administrative/leadership perspective but has cultural familiarity could be happy medium.

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Well put. Plus she has already excelled in two jobs where she performed the duties of the de facto daily general manager / chief operations officer function for the A&M System and Texas A&M University. Avoid the landmines, and she'll do great.

Let's get to some important questions. What is her opinion of the smoke draw?

Gigem314 said:

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DeschutesAg said:

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I'm optimistic that Hegar is going to provide stable leadership and we won't see as much turnover anymore. Early returns seem positive. It sounds like he was very intentional with this latest Presidential search and tried to find someone with the credentials but also a 'culture' fit who understands what Texas A&M is about.

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If you ask 100 A&M grads to define what A&M is about, you'll get a wide range of responses.

It is first and foremost a landgrant university and a state public university with a state mandate to provide high quality higher education and perform valuable research. Additionally, A&M is assigned by law a number of other important ancillary functions which assist the state's residents, the state government, and the state economy. And although we are a state university, we take in a lot of federal funding. In return there are federal requirements, research projects, and ancillary federal functions A&M performs.

We Ags love to talk about our traditions, culture, Aggie Spirit, keepers of the flame, etc. and it is true all that stuff matters some. But in reality the above foundational mandates, responsibilities, and duties matter the most and supercede everything else.

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Which is why I think selecting someone who, while not an Aggie graduate, has spent a lot of time in the system and understands things from an administrative/leadership perspective but has cultural familiarity could be happy medium.

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I worked within the system for about 10 years 20 years ago. I love A&M, but getting out was one of the better things to happen to me career-wise. You would be shocked at how many employees talk conservative while still being stereotypical bureaucratic slugs just collecting government checks and waiting on government retirement. These people quickly become Democrats once you start trying to trim fat and making the organization more efficient and responsive.

Ryan the Temp said:

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BonfireNerd04 said:

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Ryan the Temp said:

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What are we on, 10 presidents in 20 years or something like that? I hope she makes it more than a year.

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10th one in this millennium (after Bowen, Gates, Davis*, Murano, Loftin, Hussey*, Young, Junkins*, Banks, and Welch).

* = Interim presidents not promoted to President

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Add Williams* then her, and that makes 12. That just screams "stability." I love A&M, but 12 presidents in that span of time is making us look like a clown show.

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Especially when you look at the previous 125 years and realize that there were only about 10-12 presidents in that entire span.

BusterAg said:

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Texas A&M University said:

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milner79 said:

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Windy City Ag said:

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Quote:

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Bring back legacy admissions

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This is not happening.

The vast majority of Old Ags would not make the cut these days and the legislature loves the Top 7% rule. There is almost no one who wants to dumb down admissions for legacies.

It is what it is.

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Legacy admission, IMO, does not have to mean automatic admission. But it could be a weighted factor that is (seriously) considered in that mysterious mix Admissions calls "holistic review."

All things being academically equal, I would a lot rather award admission to an Aggie legacy than to another candidate. I would a lot rather admit an academically qualified student who has been coming to campus on weekends all their young life, has an appreciation for traditions, and sees themselves as part of a continuation of an Aggie family legacy.

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F that.

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Ironic post is ironic.

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And so articulately worded and argued ...

If Susan doesn't work out, in 2 3/4 years we can get Brooke Rollins !