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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13

OPINION Meatballs and love: ‘Lady and the Tramp’ movie review with a Valentine’s Day spin A5

College Station named Bird City Conservation efforts aimed at protecting wildlife, restoring habitats bore fruit

SPORTS Changing of the guard: A&M baseball starts the Michael Earley era ranked No. 1 B1

VALENTINE’S DAY FEB. 14

‘We are proud of our history’ Aggie students, professors celebrate Black History Month, Africana studies despite recent efforts to disrupt the federal rememberance holidays

By Amber Pettit News Reporter

By Tenny Luhrs Associate News Editor

College Station was officially designated as a Bird City Texas by Audubon Texas and Texas Parks and Wildlife in January following years of dedicated conservation efforts and active community participation. This designation recognizes communities that have implemented effective bird conservation programs and practices and requires the collection of annual data recording conservation progress and plans to continue these efforts for at least three years. The prestigious environmental recognition highlights College Station’s commitment to environmental stewardship and wildlife conservation and has a variety of benefits, including boosts in ecotourism and long-term sustainability gains. The city has implemented several measures to expand local habitats, heighten environmental protection and increase awareness about bird conservation in recent years. Since 2023, the city has planted hundreds of native plants and trees and removed invasive species to restore and stabilize local habitats. In addition, the city provides opportunities for environmental education through community demonstration gardens, monthly birding classes and an annual Migratory Bird Day Festival in May alongside a Lights Out for Birds and Dark Sky initiative to reduce light usage during peak migration times. Because College Station encompasses both the Blackland Prairie and Post Oak Savanna, the biomes’ rare species establish homes throughout the city, often in backyards and campus buildings. Laurie Brown, recreation supervisor for the City of College Station and founder of the Conservation Advisory Group, explained the importance of the Bird City designation when it comes to maintaining local and state bird populations. “A big part of Bird City is gaining protection and spreading action to be able to help save these birds,” City recreation supervisor Laurie Brown said. “The concept for College Station’s bird city was uniting all the good conservation work under one banner so that we can do big work as a big group.” Brown also founded the Conservation Advisory Group, which promotes wildlife conservation locally. The project required a dedicated cohort of environmentally focused individuals to make it possible. “It really has been a community effort … the biggest piece of this was that we had to create a collaborative group which started as 16 people and is now 61 people that work on different projects and pieces,” Brown said.

Amidst a federal pushback on celebrations of heritage and race, marked in part by federal agencies pausing observances of Black History Month, MLK Day and Juneteenth, some of Texas A&M’s Black faculty and student organization members say they remain determined to continue their observance of the holiday. “It’s still something I’m going to celebrate,” said psychology junior Sydney Middleton, recruitment and retention chair for the Memorial Student Center Woodson Black Awareness Committee, or MSC WBAC. “For my community, I think we will all celebrate as is because we are proud of our history and what we’ve been able to come through and accomplish.” MSC WBAC members said Black History Month highlights the forgotten –– or oftentimes omitted –– history of Black oppression, accomplishments and progression. “As much as we know about George Washington, [Alexander] Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, we should know about other people,” graduate student and chair of MSC WBAC Madison Webb said. “With Carter G. Woodson, it shouldn’t be like, ‘Who is that?’” MSC WBAC’s namesake Carter G. Woodson was the father of Black History Month. The historian designated the second week in February 1926 as Negro History Week, coinciding with both Abraham Lincoln and Fredrick Douglass’ birthdays. By 1976, support for the holiday had grown enough for President Gerald R. Ford to extend Negro History Week into Black History Month. “Black History Month is a symbol of victory, of victory over more than a century of oppression … talking about the past helps us

DESIGNATION ON A3

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Armani Jones — THE BATTALION

MSC WBAC Director sophomore Josiah Coleman sings karaoke during the Black History Month Kickoff at the MSC Gates Ballroom on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025.

move toward the future with a sense of victory,” associate professor of Hispanic and Africana studies and coordinator of A&M’s Africana studies program Alain Lawo-Sukam said. Webb said the limits placed on diversity initiatives by SB 17, the state’s anti-DEI law, has impacted MSC WBAC particularly in the loss of grants and allocations from the MSC Programs. The recent pause on observance holidays has

stirred up further uncertainty and unease. “The removal of certain things, the erasure, censoring, that’s kind of what I’m worried about,” Middleton said. Lawo-Sukam said the Africana studies department has also lost funding –– due to small class sizes and lack of visibility –– and is far from where it started. “If you ask me, ‘Where is the Africana studies program office?’”

Lawo-Sukam said. “You know what it is? It was two boxes. We used to be a program in a suite on the top floor of the anthropology building. But after 10 years, we are reduced to two boxes.” Rebecca Hankins, a professor in the department of global language and culture, feels that the small population of Black students at A&M should not inhibit Africana studies from flourishing. HISTORY ON A3

Faculty Senate discusses DEI, ICE Senators expressed worries about police in classrooms, anti-DEI implementation

By David Swope News Reporter

Ashely Bautista — THE BATTALION

Michael J. Hardy, deputy chief of government relations and director of federal regulations, talks to faculty during the Faculty Senate meeting in Rudder Tower on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025.

The Texas A&M Faculty Senate met on Monday to discuss the launch of new faculty and citizenship initiatives, DEI legislation, research funding and ICE protocol. Joe Pettibon II, vice president for planning, assessment and strategy, began the meeting by announcing an employee engagement survey ran by consulting firm Korn Ferry designed to gauge faculty satisfaction and identify areas for improvement. The responses will help create tar-

geted action plans in areas identified as opportunities for growth. “I have a feeling an awful lot of people are highly suspicious of this if they are asked to put in any identifiable information,” professor Dale Rice said. “I’m thinking a lot of people I know in the current political climate are probably not even going to be honest if they do fill it out.” “Timing is everything,” Pettibon said. “The climate, the way that it is, is going to create some hesitation for some individuals to complete it …. We’ve tried to take some steps by allowing Korn Ferry to keep the data instead of having it sent to us on an individual level.” Professor Catharina Laporte asked if Korn Ferry is subject to freedom of information act requests. Pettibon replied that he was uncertain. SENATE ON A3

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