AP Wire | 12/04/2003 | Diversity: Race won't be factor in A&M admissions, scholarships: "A former CIA director appointed to head the 45,000-student Aggie campus in 2002, Gates said he will continue to make attracting minorities a top priority, but he intends to accomplish this through increased outreach efforts and scholarships targeting first-generation college students who come from lower-income families.



'My recommendations to the Board of Regents regarding admissions, and related ... initiatives, involve two objectives about which I feel quite strongly,' Gates told about 200 administrators, faculty members, students and former students at a forum Wednesday evening. 'The first objective, as I have stated before, is for Texas A&M to better serve all of the citizens of the state of Texas, and that includes a better record in attracting and enrolling minorities. The second objective is that students at Texas A&M should be admitted as individuals, on personal merit - and no other basis.'"