On May 27, former Interim President John Junkins released a progress report summarizing the university’s ongoing activities to enhance diversity, equity and inclusion at Texas A&M.
Retired Air Force Gen. T. Michael Moseley has been selected as the Campus Muster Speaker for the 2021 Muster Ceremony.
According to a Feb. 23 press release by the Muster Committee, Moseley, Class of 1971, served more than 40 years in the United States Air Force and was the branchâs 18th Chief of Staff.
Speaker Executive and political science sophomore Marcus Peña said Moseley was selected to speak last year but ultimately was not able to participate due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
â[Having the speaker already chosen] is a really rare opportunity for people [on our committee] to have,â Peña said. âIt was cool because I got to be a part of the process of voting for him, but I was on a completely different sub-committee at the time. By the time that he actually gets to speak, I am leading the sub-committee that is getting to know him and get to have him be a part of Muster.â
Texas A&M plans to leave a statue of Confederate General and former university president Lawrence Sullivan Ross in place.
According to a report in the Texas Tribune, Texas A&M leadership says the statue will stay where it is: Academic Plaza. This decision comes just days after Interim President John Junkins said the issue was unresolved.
The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents was asked to make recommendations on the statue and a redesign of the area around the statue, but removing the statue was off the table.
Of course, the decision to leave it where it is was not taken well by those advocating for its removal. Matthew Francis Jr., a junior who served on the commission as a representative of the TAMU chapter of the NAACP, told the Texas Tribune: