WORLD-CLASS UNIVERSITIES AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY



What is meant by the term "world-class university?"
Most of us want to be the best that we can be at whatever it is we do, and faculty and universities are no different. Since we live in a global economy it makes sense to measure our abilities against the best the world has to offer. Texas's premier universities show up well in such measurements. A world-class reputation attracts the best faculty and students and so perpetuates high-quality research and teaching.

World-class also means having a very full range of programs that help educate all our students as widely as possible: to speak the languages spoken around the world, to understand the politics, economics, societies, and cultures they are likely to encounter in their working lives. It means providing a thorough understanding of the science and mathematics that drive our own culture's remarkable success in technology. It means encouraging students to think for themselves by providing an environment where ideas are challenged by facts and other ideas, rather than by the dead hand of authority.

It would be especially ironic if, in a state that prides itself on being the biggest and the best in so much, anything less than world-class recognition and status were accepted from its premier universities.

So we should be happy that we have world-class universities?
Yes. World-class universities do a lot for their states. Just think of the name recognition MIT and Harvard have given to Massachusetts, and Princeton and the Institute for Advanced Study (remember Einstein?) to New Jersey. Also, as mentioned before, there is the considerable value to the former students from these institutions of just graduating from them. On top of that, there are the practical benefits, which include the development of computers, rockets and space flight, the development of new and valuable crop plants, better prediction of weather, and the discoveries of lost history, such as the translation of ancient writings, the discovery of the ancient Sumerians, the discovery of the dinosaurs, and the recent discovery of the asteroid that may have killed the dinosaurs. The investment is large but it does pay off.

Is Texas A&M University world-class in everything?

That would not be possible. No institution can be at the top of every ladder. But Texas A&M is genuinely world-class in its traditional focus areas: agriculture, engineering, science, and veterinary medicine. It has achieved world prominence in programs such as underwater archaeology and the study of wavelets and data compression, and its liberal arts faculty are attracting national and international attention. We are alone in being the land grant, sea grant, and space grant institution of the state and we are one of very few in the country with all three designations. We have a state-wide network of experiment stations and facilities aimed at helping those who most need our services.

Can't a university be world-class without being a big research university?
There are extremely few world-class universities that are not also strong research universities.
That is not to say that research universities are the only worthy ones. The varied institutions of higher education - community colleges, private liberal arts colleges, four-year comprehensive universities, and research universities - have differing roles, and all of these institutions are important. For each a primary aim is the transmission of knowledge and strategies for learning. But that knowledge is discovered primarily at the research universities.

What about cultural diversity?

World-class is not a synonym for cultural diversity, but it does include diversity. If a university wishes to attain world-class status, its faculty and students must understand the divergent cultures that inhabit the world. Diversity of viewpoints and perspectives is crucial to the vitality of a University, assuring a cross-fertilization of ideas and enabling the creation of new knowledge. Cultural diversity reinforces these goals. For both idealistic and practical reasons, a university moving into the twenty-first century must endorse and promote diverse perspectives that might be labeled "multi-cultural." The ideal university welcomes all who bring to it a willing mind and a love of learning. Given the fact that the state, nation, and world are culturally diverse entities, a university that seeks to realize its potential of serving all of its citizens responsibly must be attentive to diverse populations. TAMU prides itself on a faculty that is engaged in cutting-edge research and teaching, and in a number of disciplines the contributions and perspectives of diverse populations must be studied if the truths of history, an understanding of the present, and a preparation for the future are fully to be realized. Texas is and will be a multi-cultural state, with close economic ties to its nearest neighbors, one of which is Mexico. Moreover, Texas A&M already has a cadre of Aggies scattered throughout the world, a reality that will become even more pronounced in the future. Our graduates will enter and work in this globally connected world, whether they make their home in Odessa, Texas or in Beijing, China.

The diversity of the student population here at Texas A&M University has been increasing, but more effort is needed. Among the graduate students, we have increased the number of blacks from 45 to 184 between 1981 and 1996, which is an increase from 1% to 2.7% of the graduate students. Hispanics have gone from 91 to 328 graduate students, or 2% to 4.8% of the graduate students, Asian-Americans from 42 to 216, or from .9% to 3.2% of the graduate students. While the current numbers are still very low compared to the corresponding numbers in the general population of Texas, and although the Hopwood decision has hurt our efforts, we have been making progress and expect to make more over the next few years.

Among the undergraduate students, African American students have gone from 324 in 1981 to 1126 in 1996, and Hispanic undergraduate students numbered 3704 in 1996. Both of these figures represent gains, although again they are not good enough.