A&M officials visit students who were called racial slurs

DALLAS — Top Texas A&M officials on Tuesday carried thousands of letters and apologies to Dallas high schoolers who were the target of racial slurs during a college visit.

University President Michael K. Young, system Chancellor John Sharp and student body President Joseph Benigno visited Uplift Hampton Preparatory Wednesday to show the charter school students how sorry they were and how last week’s racially charged incident does not reflect the school’s values.

“We wanted to tell them we were tremendously impressed with them and proud of them in terms of how they reacted, and they’re precisely the kind of students we’d love to see enrolling,” Young said.

Last week, a group of about 60 students from the Uplift school were touring the university when harsh racial slurs were aimed at them. Staffers from the charter school, whose student population is predominantly black and Latino, as well as a Texas A&M tour guide, witnessed the incident. A young woman also pointedly motioned to her Confederate flag earrings, asking two Uplift girls if they would be all right to wear to the Dallas school. Young quickly condemned the acts as police and university officials launched an investigation into the matter.

The high school juniors were visiting A&M as part of Uplift’s “Road to College” program, which takes students on tours of universities across the nation.

Many across the College Station campus have also spoken out against the incident, saying that it doesn’t reflect the spirit of the school.

Over the weekend, Benigno helped organize a letter-writing campaign in which thousands of university students wrote personal notes to Uplift saying the incident did not represent the school.

Officials presented the letters Tuesday. “The goal is to really show those stu- dents who Texas A&M is,” Benigno said.

Uplift CEO Yasmin Bhatia issued a statement saying that she appreciated the Texas A&M leadership and state Sen. Royce West for visiting.

“I encouraged our scholars to keep the letters as a symbol of time when they overcame an obstacle on their journey to a college degree,” she said.

Officials said some university students involved in the incident have been identified but declined to elaborate, saying the process was ongoing.

West, D-Dallas, was among those calling for the university to expel any A&M students found to be involved.