MILITARY WALK

In the early 1880's, the Military Walk on the campus of Texas A&M University was a simple dirt road on which students (who were all white male and members of the Corps of Cadets at the time) assembled and then marched together to meals. Throughout the years the Military Walk was updated to a narrow paved road and then to a series of sidewalks, all running through the center of campus and past a number of significant and historical buildings and landmarks.The Military Walk tradition continued until World War II when student enrollment decreased dramatically, and the tradition was never reinstated following the war because the primary dining hall on campus was relocated. In 2010 TAMU completed a massive restoration - made possible by Dan A. Hughes, a 1951 graduate of TAMU and a former member of the Corps of Cadets - of the Military Walk. Now kiosks along the side of the walk provide information about campus buildings both standing and long-since demolished, and new landscaping and a wider brick and limestone paver pathway create a peaceful and pleasant avenue on which to stroll.

 

How inclusive was the Corps of Cadets for people of color, females or LGBQT+ people?

 

A Vietnamese-American woman has quit Texas A&M University's   Corps of Cadets, citing sexual and racial harassment and abuse from its male members.  "The corps is unprofessional, corrupted, racist, sexist and so powerful that such violent and illegal acts are swept under a rug," the freshman cadet wrote in an Oct. 15 letter to her military adviser.  "The things I have been made to say and do, the things I've seen done to others and the stories that others have told me disgust me," she wrote. "The whole mentality of the corps disgusts me."  The woman spoke to the Houston Chronicle on the condition that her name not be used, editors said Friday.  The woman, who notified corps leaders and moved out of her corps dormitory Wednesday night, repeated her complaints Thursday with her parents to the co-chairman of a panel investigating sexual discrimination charges within the corps. The panel was appointed two weeks ago after four women aired similar criticisms.  In her letter, the woman said the cadets called her vulgar names and made her sing Jingle Bells in a so-called Chinese accent. She was kicked where she had an injury and slapped with the back of an ax by her student commander, she said in the letter.  

 

We acknowledge that Texas A&M University (College Station) is situated on the land of multiple Native nations, past and present. These original homelands are the territory of Indigenous peoples who were largely dispossessed and removed. We specifically acknowledge the traditional stewardship of this land by the Tonkawa, Tawakoni, Hueco, Sana, Wichita, and Coahuiltecan peoples. We pledge to support and advocate for the histories, cultures, languages, and territorial rights of historic Indigenous peoples of Texas and the Indigenous people that live here now. This statement affirms continuous Indigenous presence and rights, acknowledges the ongoing effects of settler colonization, and supports Indigenous struggles for political, legal, and cultural sovereignty.

 

Questions

1. Have participants from triads, and ask: Do you have female, LGBTQ+ or people of color relatives or friends that are members of  Corps of Cadets? 

2. What was it like for them? Did they experience discrimination? 

 

Interesting Facts

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