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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3

LIFE & ARTS From A&M to the silver screen, three Aggies helped bring “The Wild Robot” to life. A5

SPORTS Maroon and White host Tigers as second top-10 opponent of the season. B1

LAST DAY TO REGISTER TO VOTE IN TEXAS

OCTOBER 7

Inquiries into LGBTQ minor lead to 52 program inactivations

Faculty allege transparency, communication issues with Office of the Provost By Nicholas Gutteridge Managing Editor According to a review by The Battalion, dozens of minors and certificates have had requests for inactivation submitted in the Curricular Approval Request System, or CARS. The requests from the Office of the Provost come after new requirements — developed after June 2023 inquiries into the LGBTQ studies minor — dictate programs will be inactivated if they do not meet a certain enrollment threshold. Submitting the inactivation request in CARS is the first step in

the process and must occur before other review bodies can approve or deny it. According to Texas A&M’s Standard Administrative Procedure, the request is then routed to the appropriate department and college before it reaches Curricular Services and Provost and Executive Vice President Alan Sams, who is spearheading the current proposal to inactivate 52 minors and certificates. The thresholds are not mandated by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Once approved, the proposal requires review by the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee — or Graduate Council if it is a graduate

program — and the Faculty Senate before it reaches President Mark A. Welsh III. Multiple faculty members have alleged the inactivations violate shared governance, the concept that faculty have a strong say in the university’s proceedings. Before these inactivations, established norms dictated inactivations were proposed solely by faculty members in departments and programs. According to a Sept. 23 statement provided by an A&M spokesperson, the Office of the Provost seeks to inactivate 38 certificates and 14 minors due to low enrollment. The new thresholds for minors and unMINORS ON A3

UNFOUNDED CRIMES

Campus crime stats are in Unfounded crimes are crimes that sworn or commissioned law enforcement personnel have investigated and made a formal determination that the report is false or baseless and are, therefore, subsequently withheld from Clery crime statistics. Following are the unfounded crimes as reported for all Texas A&M University, College Station Clery Act locations and Clery Act offenses: • Calendar year 2023: 4 unfounded crimes • Calendar year 2022: 6 unfounded crimes • Calendar year 2021: 2 unfounded crimes

Harasment 4

Graphic by Nikhil Vadi — THE BATTALION

Engineering reaches 25 by 25 goal 25,000 student benchmark exceeded in new numbers By Dhriti Kolar News Writer

140

Stalking:

120

(On Campus Property)

100 80 60 50

Stalking 29

20 0

2023

2022

2021

Arrests:

Drug Abuse Violations Jackson Stanley — THE BATTALION

Rodger Paxton and Jonathan Blythe discuss crime statistics in the UPD conference room on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024.

about Clery notifications as well as trends in statistics and definitions to classify specific crimes. “We saw a pretty significant increase in theft of motor vehicles in 2023,” Paxton said. “The reason for that was the personal electric veBy Mikayla Martinez hicles, skater electric scooters and News Editor skateboards and stuff like that.” Along with a breakdown of what From the guy who makes conspecific vehicles were tampered tinuous creepy advances in class to Motor Vehicle electric scooters mysteriously disap- with, an additional explanation of Theft: Police De- stalking was added to the report. pearing, the University (On Campus partment keeps note Property) of how many There was an influx of stalking cases in 2023, with accounts of stalking reports take place on campus. The Texas A&M University Col- reported on campus jumping from lege Station Annual Security Report 222 reports in the year 2022 to 372 for 2024 was published on Oct. 1. this past year. “Stalking is another one that we The 77-page document is a resource for students to learn how to report saw this year go up quite considerElectric Vehicle ably, and the reason for that is just incidents and define specific crimes Personal 75 more information under the federal Clery Act and we’re sharing updates the statistics from reported amongst the different departments at Clery-defined crimes counted in the the university,” Paxton said. “We’re getting more complete information. previous year. Police Lieutenant of Professional … Clery stalking and Penal Code Standards Rodger Paxton III, who stalking are two different animals.” According to the annual report, specializes in Clery for the University Police Department, said that a stalking is defined by the Federal breakdown of the 41 theft of motor Department of Education as two or vehicle reports since 2022 were add- more acts directed toward another ed to the report. The annual report person that put them in fear of perprovides students with information sonal safety or the safety of others

Updated annual crime report for 2024 released by UPD

Attempt Theft- Automobiles 5 Automobiles 14

art

@THEBATTONLINE

200

150

100

2023

2022

2021

Arrests:

Liquor Law Violation Graphic by Isabella Creamer — THE BATTALION

and place them under substantial emotional distress. This means that not all Clery accounts of stalking fall under the separate Texas Penal Code definition. “Penal Code stalking is very difficult to reach the elements of the offense, whereas Clery stalking … is super easy to get,” Paxton said. “I

mean, you have two in two separate incidents, and it puts the person in fear for their safety or the safety of others or places them in substantial emotional distress. And we’ve got a stalking stat.” Personal safety is crucial to combating vulnerability to theft and

in O g e b ses

ctober 21

www.blinn.edu

CRIME ON A3

Texas A&M’s College of Engineering launched the 25 by 25 initiative in 2013, seeking to have 25,000 engineers across its various locations and programs by the year 2025. As of fall 2023, the college met that goal and reported a total enrollment of 25,132 students across the College Station, Galveston, Qatar and McAllen campuses, as well as its online master’s degree and statewide engineering academy programs. In 2010, studies indicated there would be a shortage of engineers in the future. Along with addressing this demand, the initiative has also allowed the college to increase capacity in engineering programs and admit more students while continuing to maintain high-quality programs, according to Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Harry Hogan, Ph.D. “We observed that we were having a lot of students apply to our engineering programs and not being … admitted even though they were qualified because of our capacity limitations, so that led to the intentional growth initiative,” Hogan said. In an article by the A&M engineering college, Texas A&M President Mark A. Welsh III wrote that reaching the goal also reflected the university’s commitment to its landgrant mission. “The College of Engineering’s dedication to excellence ensures that the university remains at the forefront of engineering education, equipping our students with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in a competitive global economy,” Welsh wrote. Over the years, the college has increased the number of incoming freshmen each year. However, nearly 50% of enrollment comes from improving retention rates within the college. “We have data to show that we have had steadily increasing retention rates … over the same time period that we’ve been through this aggressive growth period and I think that’s remarkable,” Hogan said. “We’ve improved our graduation rates over the same time period and a lot of time and effort has been put ENGINEERING ON A3