Did you hear about the Aggie who went to Washington?

In this age of constant polling and instant communication, there are few things that actually catch us by surprise. Kinky coming in 4th, It’s too bad but we saw it coming. Dems taking control of the house and senate, not a shock. Secretary of Defense resigning, that was a shock. Dr. Robert Gates getting tapped for the position, I did an audible “Dag yo!” I think both were good pieces of news. Rumsfeld has always appeared to be too inflexible and made my head want to explode half the time I heard him talk. My hope for Dr. Gates is that he’ll be the same agent of change in our defense policy that he was for A&M. He kept the good and seemed to change only as much as was needed with the bad. When he did make the changes, he did it unapologetically and with purpose.



The change I remember the most was when he made the decision not to use affirmative action in the admissions process. He then decided legacy would no longer be a factor, if your parents went to A&M it doesn’t help you anymore on paper. Both decisions were controversial but I believe that both were logical. He then setup centers around Texas to educate mostly minority students on how to apply to and be accepted to A&M. There weren’t any secrets, just providing information that kids with parents who went to college probably already had. He was basically saying, we’re not giving out any freebees but we see the problem and if you want to help yourself we’ll show you how. This might be an optimistic view but it fits well with me.



By the number of facebook groups that have already popped up, I can tell he will truly be missed. It’s bittersweet but his legacy won’t be going anywhere. Below is the letter he sent to the A&M community last night.



http://www.tamu.edu/home/spotlight/gatesannouncement.html