A few days after the suggestive slides that had gone viral, Texas A&M President Michael K. Young released an official statement. He addresses the issue that happened during a university Chalk Talk for women.
Young denounced the sexism that happened. He highlighted that the university is considered as one of the top universities for women. Therefore he specified that both "men and women should be outraged." SEC Country has it that the presentations contained insensitive and disrespectful content. The content were given by two football coaches during the "Chalk Talk for Women." The event itself was hosted by the Athletic Department.
The Chalk Talk event was a women's fundraiser event to benefit the Twin City Mission in Bryan, Texas. Hundreds of women attended the event. It was intended to increase support for Aggie football.
One disturbing slide that was presented was the Aggie War Hymn. However, it was edited with a different lyrics about cleaning and hormones. The rest were tagged as sexually suggestive.
"Like many of you who learned of this, I was and remain dismayed, disappointed and angry," says Young. He continues on to say that this behaviors is not who the school is and is an unacceptable act.
"This is not a females-only concern, but a human one," adds Young. He wanted to clarify the fact that even men were disturbed by the content presented.
In effect, the two coaches that presented the slides were suspended. Additional disciplinary measures were already taken. But for Young, this is only the start. Texas A&M football coach Kevin Sumlin apologized on Friday after the slides came out. Assistant coaches Jeff Banks and Jim Turner, who were responsible for the slides, were suspended for two weeks without pay. The suspensions will continue into the beginning of fall camp on August 8, 2016.
The university's Athletic Department is engaged in ongoing education that aims to address the issue.
Young is proud of the fact that the Texas A&M University was named by College Choice as one of the top universities for women and he promises to uphold that.
