In the midst of financial struggles, Texas A&M is losing a part of its history. On Feb. 20, it was announced that the Dairy Science Center would be closing its doors after 50 years of serving A&M and its students. The University is making a mistake by closing the Dairy Science Center. Instead, the University should work to maintain the center and continue the tradition of educating A&M students about the work involved in dairy farming.
This University was created to educate the people of Texas, and by closing the doors of the center, future Texas dairy farmers will lose the ability to gain hands-on experience that they would have otherwise received. Without this center, A&M loses a part of its connection to the history and future of Texas farmers. The ‘A’ in A&M used to stand for agriculture, but with tighter budgets, the ‘A’ is in danger of losing its meaning.
Students who are passionate about the center and all its positive effects on their future need to join together and find a way to save it. This is the time when the future of the University is decided. On one hand, there is an average university without the center, and on the other hand, by keeping the center, A&M remains a unique and distinctive institution of higher learning. A&M cannot lose the traditions that set it apart from everyone else.
The opportunities that the Dairy Science Center provides cannot be lost. This is not only the maintenance of a tradition; it is the protection of future possibilities for students who can gain valuable experience by working at the Dairy Science Center.