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YOUR NUMBER
2015 Texas A&M Campus Directory
Convenient listings of administrative offices, departments
and other information about A&M.
PN EPARTMENTS: You may charge and pick up
Campus Directories in the Student Media office in
Suite L400 of the MSC. Cost is $5 per copy. Please bring
a Student Media Work Order. Call 845-2646 for info.
^TUDENTS AND OTHERS may purchase directories
Jfor $5 plus tax each in MSC L400 (by cash, check or
credit card).
Hours: 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Dear Chancellor Sharp ’72,
I’m writing to you to congratulate you on the
selection of Michael Young as the next president
of our flagship university, and also to protest the
recent policy you announced concerning the
future of the President’s House on campus. Since
the days of General Earl Rudder the House has
served as a connection between Texas A&M stu
dents and their leaders, and severing this unique
symbol of Aggie unity to make raising money
easier is a terrible mistake. In the last couple of
days I’ve spoken to former and current students,
from Bonfire Redpots to current student leaders,
who treasure the memories they made while
inside the house. Even those who never went
inside have spoken of the strong sense of kinship
they felt from having their campus leadership
live among them. Such a feeling is integral to
the development of Aggie unity, and reserving a
key position on campus for rich donors is a slap
in the face to the community access on which
Rudder and the University once prided them
selves on.
Your comment this week, that the President’s
House is “way more important in terms of fun
draising,” and that “these guys could go find an
other place to live” shows a great misunderstand
ing of what this House represents to the A&M
community, which is embodied in every student
just as much as it is in high-powered donors.
If the MSC, Hagjer Center and other such
buildings do not fit current outreach needs, then
I strongly urge you to consider designating the
Reed House, present home of the A&M System
Chancellor, as an alternative location to house
donors and hold fundraising events. Located just
across the street from the Bush School, it is close
enough to campus to be convenient for visiting
VIPs, and could certainly be repurposed for, as
you recently said, “a lot of goodwill, fundraising,
and things that are far more valuable than having
somebody live there.”
Dear Board of Regents:
Congratulations on your selection of
Michael Young to be the next Presi
dent of Texas A&M University. With
this search complete the university we
all hold dear can now begin to turn the
page with fresh, bold, new leadership.
In order to accomplish the task of
new leadership it is important to note
a “STUDENTS FIRST” priority
should be demonstrated. To this effect,
President-designate Young should be
allowed to live in the President’s home
on campus. Established under President
Rudder, this home allows the university
president to show solidarity with the
campus and provide access to students
and visitors. By transforming the home
into a guest palace for dignitaries and
donators, you are sending the message
you have a greater priority on fundrais
ing as opposed to the unique connect
edness between the President and the
campus.
Furthermore, onboarding a new Pres
ident by saying, “Get your own damn
house,” seems unprofessional and un
welcoming to the campus’ new leader.
Please reconsider this decision and allow
President-designate Young the oppor
tunity afforded to Presidents before him
— the chance to integrate with Aggies,
visitors, and those donors and dignitaries
from the Presidents home.
At the same time, the Hagler Center
nearby the campus and football stadium
could easily be used for fundraising
initiatives. Perhaps a suggestion would
be to add on to the Hagler Center with
an overnight complex for dignitaries
to stay? Congratulations again on your
selection of a new President.
Michael Dror Robert Christopher Ferguson
Class oj 2014 Class of 2001
{ MUSIC
Panel finds intersection of rap r economy
By Taylor Siskind
MSC Carter G. Woodson Black Aware
ness Committee and the Africana Studies
Program, along with several other depart
ments, will host “Rap Sessions: Global Hip-
Hop and Economic Recovery,” an event that
seeks to connect hip-hop to social issues and
the economy.
The panel will be a follow-up of the movie
screening “Unstoppable: The Roots of Hip-
Hop in London,” which took place Wednes
day.
Composed of hip-hop artists Akua Naru
and Blitz the Ambassador, professor Dawn-
Elissa Fischer and author Giuseppe Pipitone,
this panel will discuss the entrepreneurial strat
egies of hip-hop.
“What hip-hop artists have done, like
Boogie Down Productions, KRS-One spe
cifically, and even the distinct Kanye West
have argued is that black people need to be
their own producers,” said associate sociol
ogy professor Tommy Curry. “So we need
to take the buying power, the consumerism
that drives black society, to imitate larger,
white society in many ways because of rela
tive deprivation. We need to take that power
and produce our own goods, support our own
businesses, create our own investments, banks,
firms, etcetera.”
Bakari Kitwana, the creator of Rap Ses
sions, said she hopes to inform college students
that a traditional job with a company is not
necessarily the path one has to take, and in to
day’s economy is not the most reliable either.
“From the standpoint of students, I think
it’s soothing because first of all, if they are in
terested in hip-hop, there are many opportu
nities out there, and also, even if they aren’t,
to just begin to start to think about ways of
how you can be viable independently,” Kit
wana said.
Thursday’s event seeks to link hip-hop with
larger issues to aid people of all types and back
grounds.
“That exposure can really help any student
of any color of any background understand
more about what rap is,” said Chaance Graves,
electrical engineering junior and co-director
of the educational sub-committee of the
WBAC.
The discussion will be at 7:30 p.m. in the
Preston Geren Auditorium of the Langford
Architecture Building.
MOSTLY WATER
CONTINUED
to be just before the first edi
tion was printed in October
2014.
“I was about to print the
first edition and didn’t have a
title, so I typed the first thing I
could think of into InDesign,”
Land said. “I actually really
don’t like it because I think
the wit of it only comes across
when you say the full thing,
and it often just gets abbrevi
ated to ‘mostly water,’ which
isn’t my favorite thing in the
world. ”
“Mostly water” is open to
any type of visual or written
art submission and is published
on a monthly basis. Leaf said
they are try to stay away from
categorizing submissions.
“The categories can limit an
artist,” Leaf said. “Artistic ex
pression doesn’t work in cat
egories. Many times, journals
can feel limiting. We don’t
want to do that.”
Among some of the work
submitted to and published by
the journal are a series of Snap-
chat images and photocopies
of receipts.
“The photocopies of re
ceipts were kind of used to
depict and tell a story,” Land
said. “It was really interesting,
the artist used the items on the
lists to tell a story.”
Land said authenticity in a
poem is what draws him in.
“I like it when I read some
body’s stuff, and you can tell
that they’d be writing whether
someone else is going to be
reading it or not,” Land said.
“I like it when you can see the
ghost of the poet’s past and
their poetic tradition.”
At the same time, Land
said they try to emphasize that
much of the selection does
come down to personal taste.
“We don’t claim to be some
grand arbitrators of art,” Land
said. “What we end up select
ing is what James and I like
and what we think that other
people should be exposed to
and read.”
Land and Leaf work to keep
the journal free for residents of
Bryan-College Station, and
have shipped the journal both
nationally and internationally.
Land said the majority of the
journal’s funding comes from
the two students’ personal
funds.
However, Land said the
two have also received support
from Horence Davies, Uni
versity Writing Center admin
istrator and academic adviser
for The Eckleburg Project.
“When Davis and James
first told me about ... ‘pretty
much everything is water’ I
knew almost immediately I
wanted to help them in any
way I could,” Davies said.
“The experimental and expe
riential art they hoped to re
ceive, as well as their process
of selecting pieces, absolutely
blew me away. ”
Davies said the journal felt
fresh and electrifying and that
she could feel the heart put
into its creation.
“These days with everyone
on earth trying to blog for a hot
dollar, the idea of two humans
printing off zines in someone’s
bedroom, making art for art’s
sake is something you don’t
come across very often,” Da
vies said. “You hear a lot of
braggadocio about wanting
to change the local art scene,
but it’s another thing entirely
to tangibly create something
that’s doing just that.”