President Messages

“True inclusion is the inclusion of the individual into the Aggie family and its values and traditions—not segregating Aggies into affinity groups. We stand ready to promote a culture of merit and commonality to replace the one of racial preferences and division which we intend to vanquish from our campus.

Already, we are seeing campus bureaucrats attempt to undermine the spirit of the law and the will of the citizens of Texas regarding DEI practices. The campus needs a watchdog to ensure that the ideology is reformed and not reborn. TRA does not have to be an attack dog, but we certainly will not be another campus lap dog.

Another concerning development on our campus is the concept that administrators should only listen to faculty and no other stakeholders. This ideology is ironically called “shared governance” and was brought to the nation’s attention in the summer of 2023. The ill-considered attempt by campus “experts” to impose their new journalism department head candidate directly contradicted the will of the citizens of Texas as just expressed in SB 17. The public’s faith in the profession of journalism is at an all-time low and Texans deserve better than more filtering, bias, and racialized news. By standing up for Aggies and all citizens of Texas, we triggered the wrath of the state and national media and were subjected to false and malicious allegations of racism from on and off campus. But we stood our ground as you can see in our press releases on our website.

We believe that public institutions belong to the public and Texas A&M belongs to all Aggies. We are willing to protect that belief because Texas A&M and its core values and traditions are worth it.

Over the past year, TRA has grown with the addition of David Dean ’76, Chairman of the Board, Lynn Robinson ’86, Bill Gutierrez ’91, Tom Owens ’00, and Lee Crawley ’70 each bringing their considerable leadership and business expertise to our board.

As we forge ahead, your support is paramount. The Rudder Association is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and your donations are tax deductible. TRA humbly requests your financial assistance so we can be your voice in Aggieland and to continue upholding the Aggie values and traditions we hold so dear.

Thank you for your dedication to Texas A&M University and we hope you join The Rudder Association. Together, we will make a positive impact.

Please consider sharing this message with fellow Aggies who share our commitment. Ask them to join The Rudder Association so we can be your voice in Aggieland. You can count on us to defend our traditions and core values because we are Aggies to the Core! We are just getting started, with your financial support we will be able to affect the positive changes you desire for Texas A&M University and higher education in the state of Texas.”

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- Matt Poling '90
President, The Rudder Association