A&M student president writes to Perry

Texas A&M University’s first openly gay student president has extended a meeting invitation to former Gov. Rick Perry, who recently called into question the legitimacy of his former campus’ election.

Bobby Brooks, a junior from Belton, was named president after the student who won the most votes was disqualified for failing to properly file an expense report for glowsticks used in a campaign video.

In an op-ed in the Houston Chronicle, the energy secretary questioned whether election officials — who are students — would allow such a minor violation to sink the campaign of a minority student. He argued that Brooks’ victory was engineered to put forward an image of a progressive, diverse university.

Brooks responded publicly for the first time late Friday in an open letter to Perry posted to the student newspaper’s website. He did not respond to Perry’s allegations directly.

“I pledged to make diversity and inclusion a hallmark of my time in office, and I appreciate that you share my view that respecting and honoring all students is one of the things critical to ensuring that Texas A&M continues to grow and remains the world-class university we all know and love,” Brooks wrote. “I would like to invite you to come home to Texas and meet with my team and me as we take office later this month to discuss how we can work together to achieve our common vision. We have many students on this campus from all walks of life, whose perspectives I would care to share with you.”

The disqualified student, Robert McIntosh, called for an investigation on Thursday into whether the balloting was stacked against him because he is a straight, white, Christian male.

McIntosh was disqualified for two alleged campaign violations: voter intimidation and the glowstick finance report violation. He appealed the two charges and was cleared of the intimidation allegation.