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Campus racism
African-American student leaders
recount discrimination, prejudice
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his is the third in a three-part series examining
issues facing African-American students at
Texas A&M University. Leaders ol various
African-American student organizations were
asked to participate in a round table discussion
on the state of racial relations at A&M. The
Battalion formulated several questions to
facilitate discussion and encouraged open and
honest dialogue among the participants.
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BY APRIL YOUNG AND
MEREDITH HIGH!
The Battalion
Question 3: How is the academic environ
ment on campus, in your classes and the facul
ty representation on campus? Do you feel like
you are lacking mentors?
Johnson: I am going to class, and so 1 am not
really worried about that. I know that there is not
going to be a whole lot ofblack people in my class,
I tnean I KNOW that there is not going to be a
whole lot of black people in my class, but that is
notan issue to me, personally.
Young: My whole thing is that when you go
into a class, if it is a small class then you know you
are going to be the only one, and then when I go
into a larger class, then I know that there is going
lobe one ortwo. But it is not that 1 want to see an-
other black person, but I think this peers into the
problem, how connimanic do i feel going into a
class, and turning to the black person next to me
and asking if I could borrow their notes, I would
feel more comfortable asking a black person. That
is my whole issue, I know that I am there to learn.
Jenkins: My question is why? It goes back to
what I was saying in the beginning, it is your
comfort zone, ‘Yeah, 1 am the only one.’ I am
one of six [senior] black brothers in the Corps
[of Cadets], 1 am a minority [because 1 am]
ELIZABETH O’FARRELL /The Battalion
Tanir Upshaw (L), a senior health major, Van John
son, a senior chemistry major (center) and Preston
Jenkins, a junior management major, discuss racial
issues at a round-table discussion.
black, and then 1 am a minority because 1 am
black and in the Corps, I think we have to get
out ofthis mind set of us and them. We are all
students here at A&M, we are all trying to get
the degree so we can go out there and get a
job. We don't try to mingle with them. I think
that [the] only way we are all going to truly
come together is if we go to them. We should
n’t be waiting for them to come to us and try
to make this thing work. We have to go to
them, because the majority of the time, they
feel uncomfortable around us anyway. But if
we are secure in who we are, then we should
be able to go them.
James: I don’t know about all of you, but
1 know that I have been through plenty occa
sions when you go into a class and nobody
sits near you. T hat hurts my feelings. Every
body sits around me, [and] people will get up
and move.
Several people: I have not had that hap
pen to me.
James: Every time I go to sit down, peo
ple will move.
Ogungbemi: Yeah, that is true, but then 1 get
up and 1 go sit beside them. They are not going
to ask you to get up.
James: It is like ‘Oh lord, I am the represen
tative again.’ For me, 1 am actually afraid. Be
cause sometimes they will ask a question, and 1
know that I know the answer. 1 am afraid that if I
am wrong other people in the class are going to
think, ‘Oh that black person in class, she is stu
pid.’ 1 am just saying this for me. I don’t want my
people to be misrepresented.
Might: Do you agree with that?
Johnson: That is not a race issue, that is your
own personal issue. 1 will say whatever I think
and 1 will be confident in it that I said what I was
thinking, and if I am wrong then I am wrong.
Anybody else could have been wrong. It is not
because of the fact that I am black that 1 was
wrong. 1 was just wrong [because] I did not
know the answer.
Ogunghemi: Be truthful. Some of them don’t
want to sit with you. Most of the time some of
thefFi are scared, and they will not sit beside you.
Johnson: There are some white people that I
am scared of.
Might: What are (white people] scared of?
Upshaw: Of what they don’t know. They
are scared of the unknown. They don’t know
who I am. 1 am a black person. They don’t
know about my heritage or about my culture.
They are scared to get to know me. Why would
you be scared to get to know somebody? They
are scared of the unknown.
Might: So it’s getting to know some
one as an individual, and not as the token
black person in the class?
Johnson: But this has to do with self
segregation. We don’t take the active
role to try and go and meet people.
Sometimes a black person sitting by
themselves in the room is because they
want to be left alone.
James: Usually, it is someone who is
Hispanic or Asian that will come and sit
beside me, but it is not someone of the
white race.
Ogunghemi: Yeah, this is true, but then
some of the Africans are afraid to sit be
side the black Americans, because they are
afraid that you will laugh at their accents.
See Round Table on Page 6
Backsteet’s back, all right!
CODY WAGES/Tiii Bahai ion
The Backsteet Boys, AJ McLean, Nick Carter, Kevin Richardson, Howie Dorough and Brian Littrell, perform in
Houston at the Compaq Center Monday and Tuesday night. They are touring the U.S. to promote their Millennium album.
Prairie View coach mourns loss
Parents sue Ford
DALLAS (AP) — The parents of
two of the four Prairie View A&M stu
dents killed in a van crash earlier this
month have filed a defects lawsuit
against the van’s manufacturer, Ford
Motor Co. In a lawsuit filed Monday
in Marshall federal court, the families
of Samuel Stums and Jerome Jack-
son accuse Ford of design and mar
keting defects in its 15-passenger
van, as well as breach of warranty for
selling an allegedly defective vehicle.
“This is the fifth incident in two
months where college kids have
been seriously injured or killed in
vehicles that they and their fami
lies trusted were safe,” said Jay
English, the lead attorney for the
two families.
Ford spokeswoman Susan Krusel,
who said she had not seen the law
suit, would not comment Monday af
ternoon. However, she said the van
model’s rollover performance “is as
good or better than peer vehicles in
its class.”
Attorneys for the Sturns and Jack-
son families claim Ford vans such as
the one involved in the crash exhibits
stability problems when heavily
loaded.
PRAIRIE VIEW (AP) — For a while, 71-year
old Hoover Wright wondered why his life was
spared and four of his Prairie View A&M athletes
died when their van crashed en route to a track meet
nearly three weeks ago.
Now he knows.
Someone had to tell the team they had to put the
tragedy behind them.
The Panthers followed their leader’s words by
defending successfully their Southwestern Athletic
Conference indoor track championship Sunday in
Baton Rouge, La.
Ron Nelson won the high jump and finished sec
ond in the long jump. Lewis Turner won the 55 me
ters and placed second in the 100 meters, and the
Panthers easily outpointed runner-up Grumbling
State 132-101 1/2.
Broken ribs, a shoulder injury and numerous
bumps and bruises suffered in the Feb. 10 acci
dent couldn’t dampen Wright’s pride as he spoke
of the team’s victory while recuperating Tuesday
at his home.
“I’m very proud of them,” Wright said. “We
asked them to look forward and to step up even
though part of our team died and some got broken
up like me. I didn’t go to the meet but apparently
they did a good job.”
In addition to the four people killed, five athletes
were injured. Those athletes, along with Wright, are
recovering. None competed in the weekend indoor
meet at Baton Rouge.
“I made the remark that what am 1 left here for
unless it was to continue to try to inspire these young
people not only in track and field but in life in gen
eral,” Wright said.
“My point of view to them was every time they
get a chance to compete, they should give it their
best because they don’t know if a second or third
chance will be available to them.”
“ . . every time they get
a chance to compete,
they should give it
their best because they
don't know if a second
or third chance will be
available to them”
— Hoover Wright
Prairie View A&M track coach
Killed in the crash were Houston DeWayne
Watson, 21, of Greenville, the driver; Jerome De-
shaun Jackson, 21, of Dallas; Samuel Jason Stums,
20, of Jasper; and Vernon Maurice James II, 18, of
Vallejo, Calif.
“1 was asleep when the accident started,” Wright
said. “Now 1 have an understanding of what it’s like
See Wright on Page 2.
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STAFF AND WIRE
The Battalion
Texas A&M contributed $766.5 million to the Bryan-
College Station economy in 1999, almost $68 million more
|an in 1998.
These figures are a result of an A&M in-house study re
vested by President Dr. Ray M. Bowen.
“Texas A&M continues to move forward in many mean
ingful ways that are highly beneficial to both the University
and the Bryan-College Station community,” Bowen said in
apress release. “We are pleased to continue to make a posi
tive contribution on the area’s economy, and we are grateful
all the support that we receive locally.”
According to the study, approximately $191.9 million
%ies from A&M students. This is an increase of about $4
million from 1998. An average $4,418 per student was spent
ideally last year, with the majority going toward food, hous-
;, clothing, school supplies and recreation.
The study also showed that visitors to A&M, including
Prospective students and families, accounted for $62 million,
V increase of $8.9 million from 1998, and campus con-
^Oiction contracts totaled $41.8 million, a drop of about $1.9
A&M’s payroll exceeded the half-billion dollar mark for
’i’ofirst time last year, totaling $513 million.
Bowen said this amount is seen as a direct contribution
ft a H a H a l»
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IMPACT
University's Students
$191.9 mil
♦Typical A&M Student
spent $ 4 f 41 8 locally
•Major Categories for
student expenditures;
-food and housing
-clothing
-school supplies
-recreation
RUBEN DELUNA/THi: Battalion
to the local economy because the money is presumed to be
spent in the local community or deposited in local banking
and thrift institutions.
The study also found the number of people attending ath
letic events, entertainment events, commencement exercis
es, continuing education programs and visitors to the George
Bush Presidential Library Complex totaled 953,911.
This is an increase of 121,498 from ’98, with gains of89,000
more people attending Aggie football games and 81,362 more
people attending Aggie baseball games.
The study attributed the large increase of baseball
game attendees to A&M’s hosting two NCAA regional
tournaments.
Task force discusses
transportation issues
BY KENNETH MACDONALD
The Battalion
To Student Body President Will
Hurd, parking on campus is not a prob
lem, it is a solution to a larger problem
— getting people on and off campus.
Hurd spoke Tuesday at an open fo
rum about the future of parking and
transportation on campus sponsored by
the Campus Access Task Force and MSC
Current Issues Awareness.
The task force was fonned in Sep
tember 1998 to look for comprehensive
solutions to the problems of a growing
student population and transporting them
around campus.
Hurd said the task force members are
looking at ways to diversify the the modes
of transportation on campus, while limit
ing access to individual automobiles.
Some currently proposed suggestions
include improving the Borrow-a-Bike
system, expanding bicycle routes, in
creasing the effectiveness of the bus tran
sit system and even installing a small
scale monorail through campus.
Jonathan Smith, head of faculty sen
ate planning committee and associate
professor of geography, said he has heard
many complaints from students about
parking and transportation.
“All of this has convinced me that
universal satisfaction with the campus
access system is probably impossible.
Not everyone is going to be delighted all
the time,” Smith said. “The dissatisfac
tion with the system is sometimes not a
problem with the system, but it is a prob
lem with the people using the system.”
The system of campus access has
been in place since 1988, Smith said, and
a common misconception is that the sys
tem is perfect, and it is the administrators
who are mismanaging it.
“These are people who are doing a
yeoman’s service to operate a system that
is badly outdated,” Smith said.
Task Force member Sheryl Wine, ex
ecutive director of PTTS, said that they
plan to make more rise of “hubs” that
would be located on campus central to
different modes of transportation.
As an example, Wine said the future
West Campus parking would be one of
these hubs.
“This is where they know they can
park their car and find different modes
of travel to get to where ever they need
to go.”
Students will find a bus stop like the
one by Wehner, which Wine said is the
most effective stop presently on campus.
There would be a place for students to
See Access on Page 2.
INSIDE
9
• Ags explode against
Islanders ^
A&M defeats
^0^' Page 7
• Breaking up is hard to do
Students cope with leaving
their pets behind.
Page
Unn^^ss^ry Roughnes
NFLplayei
V arrests de-
i ) mand
league at
tention.
Page 1
• Listen to KAMU-FM
90.9 at 1:57 p.m. for de
tails on the United Way
luncheon.
• Check out The Battalion
online at
battalion.tamu.edu.