There was some controversy surrounding the Texas A&M University-Texarkana campus because of racial tension among its students. After claims of discrimination by peers, the campus community needed a reminder that everyone should be treated equally. In an email sent on September 21st, Dr. Cutrer informed the entire campus of the incidents that involved racial slurs among students. Students of the university start to hear about the use of derogatory terms by their peers, which pushes them to want to implement changes and introduce some new ways of dealing with this incident, as well as how to handle it in the future.  

Upon talking with a few students about the controversial speech taking place on campus, it is apparent that a few of them could never imagine that this might be a problem here.“It’s truly odd to see that happening here on campus given how diverse it is. There are different cultures represented in every aspect of campus life, which makes that news all the more concerning.” said senior George Sawyer. As a result of interviewing other students about the email, it appeared that most didn’t check their student emails, so they didn’t have any idea what the controversy was about. 

Many of the students had no opinion about the racially charged issue. One anonymous student admitted to saying “racist slurs with their friends as a joke.” Some students skimmed over the email and felt it did nothing to rectify the situation. There were those in the know about racial issues before President Cutrer’s email expressed concern that the “culture of the campus might be compromised.” The student organizations were asked to investigate the controversy with Dr. Cutrer as they are in a position to help produce change. 

After speaking with Thomas Tye, known around campus as “Tommy”, it seems that he believes that the only way this issue is gonna be fixed is if people look more closely inward than outward. “Personally, no level of institutional level change will deeply affect this scenario. I think the change needs to come from a personal level,” said Tye. In the aftermath of his interactions with students affected by the racial controversy, Tommy felt overwhelmed with anger and sadness. “It’s sad to know that many of my friends, who are people of color, are affected by this to the point of considering leaving school,” Tommy said. 

One of the students affected by this incident, who requested anonymity, admitted that the slurs were unprovoked. “I was walking to the dorms, and it was a group of students leaving the Patterson Student Center that randomly decided to call me the “N” as they went by,” the student said. It was her complaint to Student Life that jump-started the investigation and pretty soon other students started to come forward about the racial abuse they’ve experienced on campus too. 

It was then that the Student Government Association had no choice, but to convene a meeting to discuss the fallout the university could suffer from. “We had to get a handle on this extremely fast. These sorts of incidents can ruin the state of this university, and students wouldn’t feel protected. We are all a family and it has to remain that way,” said senior and member of the SGA Brooklyn Bailey. In the following weeks of the controversy, the SGA and Student Life have tried to come up with events to show the level of diversity that exists here on campus. According to Bailey, “I have a great feeling that this is gonna help all students feel united. Which is what we need after events like this. We have to stand undivided to tackle this.”