Days after an incident in which white students at Texas A&M University allegedly shouted racial slurs at a group of high school students touring the campus, administrators hand delivered thousands of apology letters.
About 60 students from the Uplift Hampton Preparatory charter school were visiting TAMU last week, but complained that people shouted racial slurs at them while touring the campus, The Dallas Morning News reported.
State Sen. Royce West (D-Dallas) said in a statement one white female approached two black Uplift students and asked how her Confederate flag earrings made them feel, The Texas Tribune reported. After that, other white males and females began "using the most well-known racial slur that's directed toward African Americans."
According to The Morning News, TAMU set up letter-writing stations on campus in an effort to apologize as a united campus community. TAMU's president, Michael K. Young; system chancellor, John Sharp; and student body president, Joseph Benigno hand delivered the letters to Uplift Hampton on Tuesday.
Uplift Hamilton is mostly made up African-American and Latino students, though many major universities in the state of Texas are severely lacking diversity. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, TAMU's student body was made up of just three percent African-American students. Additionally, UT - Austin, UT - Dallas, Texas Tech, TCU, SMU, Baylor, and Rice all failed to surpass 10 percent.
"In the aftermath of the disturbing racist incident that occurred on our campus last week, I believe that our swift action and ongoing efforts to address this matter make it abundantly clear that racism and hate speech have absolutely no place at Texas A&M," Young said in a statement. "Also, I am extremely proud and inspired about the enormous letter-writing initiative our students have undertaken to reach out personally to the young students who experienced racial slurs while visiting our campus. This initiative by our thoughtful students is yet another example of how Aggies exemplify our core values. I could not be prouder of our concerned and thoughtful students, as well as the numerous faculty, staff and former students who have reached out to me offering support."
