The Battalion — June 22, 2023

A new page for A&M Journalism

After more than 20 years without a journalism program, Texas A&M is making an effort to bring it back. Kathleen McElroy, Ph.D., who has been chosen to lead the revived school, has big plans.

McElroy, who spent over two decades as a professional journalist, said she was inspired to go into journalism education during her tenure at The New York Times.

“I was working on The [New York] Times web desk, and I was working with these amazing young people,” McElroy said. “They were young people who were so smart ... I was already thinking about winding down my career, so I thought, I’ll get a Ph.D. I love doing a little bit of research, but I really love being an administrator.”

Regarding her goals as the incoming director of A&M’s journalism school, McElroy said she aims to consult students, faculty and journalism professionals to develop an ambitious vision.

“I really have to talk to you all,” McElroy said. “I’ve got to talk to faculty, and I’ve got to talk to people in the industry. But, there’s some really obvious, big goals.”

By Jack Lee @Jackthebatt

MCELROY ON PG. 2

Ishika Samant — THE BATTALION

Kathleen McElroy, Ph.D. sits for a portrait before interviewing in The Battalion office on June 14, 2023. McElroy prepares to take the helm of a new program at Texas A&M following her years in the field.

As director of the program, McElroy said she aims to modernize the journalism curriculum in accordance with A&M’s identity as a scientific powerhouse.

“[A&M] is a top research institute,” McElroy said. “How can we make journalism be more of a part of that? The term I use is that there will be no accidental journalism majors. So if you’re here, you’re gonna learn data, you’re gonna learn coding. The whole idea is that, let’s make use of what’s here, so that [journalism graduates] are really competitive and attractive to places that are going to be looking for more from journalism majors.”

The new journalism school, McElroy said, should effectively connect students with major media outlets.

“That’s another goal: more collaboration with publications on and off campus, and with publications all around the state,” McElroy said. “Making sure there’s a relationship with places like New York and the West Coast and, you know, I say Austin, not that I want

Juneteenth Parade

Community gathers to celebrate Black history, federal holiday in Bryan

By Nadia Abusaid @NadiaAtTheBatt

This year, the Brazos Valley African American Heritage & Cultural Society, or BVAAHCS, returned with a Juneteenth parade as part of the all-day festivities in celebration of Juneteenth.

Also known as Freedom Day, Juneteenth marks when Union troops arrived off the Galveston coast announcing the emancipation of slaves in America on June 19, 1965, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed.

The BVAAHCS hosted a parade on June 17 that started at 10 a.m. at Kemp Carver Elementary School. Parade spectators lined up along Martin Luther King Boulevard as the parade traveled east toward Sadie Thomas Memorial Park, where more mid-day family-friendly activities took place. The celebration concluded with a Blues Fest in Historic Downtown Bryan featuring a performance by Eugene and Hard 2 Fine.

to turn this into U.T. East, but you know, Texas Monthly is there. [The] Texas Tribune is there. Making sure that if I can’t bring you all there, that they come down here and see what we have.”

Another goal, McElroy said, is that A&M’s journalism department should benefit the surrounding area.

“We can produce journalism that serves communities,” McElroy said. “If, you know, Caldwell, if there was some story that needed to be done about Caldwell, we should be able to put [students] out there, and [they] can produce it.”

Despite journalism programs across the country declining in number, McElroy said students in the A&M program can thrive by presenting a complete range of opportunities in the field to students.

“[We’re] not the school of printing, [we’re] the School of Journalism,” McElroy said. “Not everybody who is in this major is going to go into journalism or working [at a newspaper], but it’s great that [they] have these skills, and [they] can put them anywhere. If you want to go someplace that’s going to pay you more money than the newsroom, awesome. If you

BVAAHCS Treasurer James Hawkins has been a member of the association since its inception 12 years ago and has participated in the organization of the parade ever since.

Classic cars, parade floats, local community organizations, fire trucks and a new marching band participated in the parade, Hawkins said.

“It’s the first year we’ve had a band here, so I think [parade spectators] are going to be very excited about the band,” Hawkins said. “We’ve got a little sound going on now.”

The Juneteenth celebration has expanded since its initiation. The Blues Fest has changed to a larger venue in the last few years, said Destination Bryan’s PR and communications manager Abigail Noel, who helped advertise and organize the parade with the BVAAHCS.

“They’ve got a lot more space to spread out and get more people there,” Noel said. “That was a new thing that they added last year, as far as changing that location, and they said it was fantastic, and they got a ton more people out there. They had more space for people to bring out their lawn chairs and dance to music.”

Triumphant Trends’ program director Karen Paschal set up a booth at the Sadie Thomas Memorial Park to inform attendees about Triumphant Trends’ youth programs. Paschal said she attended the event for the first time this year and is looking forward to attending next year’s celebration as well.

“[Juneteenth] was when our people heard at last that we were free, so people celebrate that day,” Paschal said.

do want to work in a newsroom, we’re going to make sure that you can find your spot,”

The job options available for journalism graduates in the modern media environment, McElroy said, range far beyond the traditional journalist position.

“It could be data,” McElroy said. “It could be audience [engagement], you know, like The New Yorker has people who work in audience, it could be working on games — I’m obsessed with games that are in, you know, The New York Times, or The Washington Post — or things that are like NPR and podcasts and all that.”

While the goals and possibilities outlined by McElroy present the modern field of journalism as a very broad discipline, McElroy said the mission of the school will maintain its identity as all subfields of journalism have something in common.

“We’re all telling truth-based stories in different ways,” McElroy said. “Even if you’re a data journalist, you’re taking that data, which means nothing to 99% of people, and you’re gonna make it tell a story.”

McElroy said she is looking forward to working with groups across campus.

“I don’t want to say we’re gonna work with this department or that department because I need to talk to those folks,” McElroy said. “But, clearly we want to work with people who are in visualization, we want to work with people in data.”

McElroy said a crucial part of her plan as the incoming director is making herself available to the A&M community.

“I am going to be in my office, I’m gonna be walking around, I’ve always had an open door policy, wherever I am,” McElroy said. “I want to hold listening sessions, I think, is what a lot of people call them … maybe [they’ll] involve food and cookies.”

The new journalism school, McElroy said, will hopefully train professionals who provide an essential service for society.

“This isn’t an unnecessary profession,” McElroy said. “I know your parents and your friends might think there aren’t jobs — there are — they might think that [journalists] are evil people, and biased. We’re not. To me, I think we’re like nurses for democracy. We’re needed like that.”

Now, the celebration at Sadie Thomas Memorial Park features vendors in tents selling homemade jewelry, t-shirts, barbeque, turkey legs, snow cones and lemonade, said parade attendee Linda Benford, who has attended the event annually since 2004.

Benford involves herself in all parts of the Juneteenth celebration. Benford discovered the Blues Fest by chance while driving around town last year and caught the end of the performance.

“We went home, got these lawn chairs and came back,” Benford said. “We caught the last hour of it last year, but we’re going to be early this year.”

The Juneteenth celebration is more than just a parade and a Blues Fest to Benford.

“My parents were born in the 1920s here in Texas when it was a lot different,” Benford

said.“Even though they weren’t slaves, they were sharecroppers which was just barely a level above being a slave. They couldn’t go where they wanted to go when they wanted to go. They couldn’t drive where they wanted to go. They were in segregated schools.”

Benford’s father quit school in fifth or sixth grade so that he could help take care of the family, and her mother was one of the first graduates from an all-black high school. The Juneteenth celebration is a way for community members to connect and reflect on history, Benford said.

“It’s something that we’ll never forget, and we should never forget so that we can appreciate what we have,” Benford said. “When I see this parade, I see a difference. I see the future that I only imagined as a child.”

Kyle Heise — THE BATTALION Participants celebrate during the Juneteenth Parade in Bryan, Texas on Saturday, June 17, 2023.

Flash forward: 2024 football preview

Sports editor Hunter Mitchell

reviews new, returning rivalries

By Hunter Mitchell @HunterM1001

Hatred, new and old

There are two games that most of the 12th Man have circled on their calendars with a maroon marker: Texas and LSU. While nothing needs to be said about the Texas matchup — there’s decades of hate buried there — LSU has emerged as a budding rival since A&M arrived in the SEC. The Tigers and Aggies seemingly always play each other close — except for 2019 — and often that’s one of the key indicators of a rivalry. Aggie fans can’t stop reliving and LSU fans can’t seem to live down the 2018 seven-overtime thriller that saw A&M win on a two-point conversion 74-72. Games like that don’t just happen in any annual matchup, and despite A&M’s old foe coming onto the scene in ‘24, there will certainly be no love lost between the Aggies and the Tigers.

On the road again

The SEC road opponents for A&M seems, at the moment, a manageable one. A lot can change in a few years, but I can say with relative confidence that neither South Carolina nor Mississippi State will become national championship contenders by 2024. The Aggies will once again square off against Arkansas in AT&T Stadium in Arlington, in what will be the final installment of the Southwest Classic. Besides that, the only other two matchups will be a trip to The Swamp to face the Florida Gators and to Jordan-Hare Stadium to face Auburn.

Texas A&M and Texas squared off on the gridiron every year from 1915 to 2011. Then, after leaving the Big 12 for the SEC, it seemed the two schools would only face off in the occasional baseball game and Twitter thread. After a little over a decade, the two fated rivals are now set to face each other annually once more as Texas joins the SEC in 2024. Although the renewed rivalry is the marquee matchup, there are other points of interest on the recently-announced schedule.

Roll Tide, no Tide

The SEC is arguably the most difficult football conference in the country, and there’s one big, elephant-sized reason for that: the Alabama Crimson Tide. Having them on your schedule, like the Aggies have every year since 2012, memorable upsets, like the Johnny Football legacy game in 2012 and the game-winning field goal in 2021. Despite these good memories for the 12th Man, the result is usually bitter defeat when playing Alabama.

Led by all-time great coach Nick Saban, Alabama has always been a dominant force in the SEC West. A&M has been well aware of the fact that the road to a College Football Playoff berth runs through Tuscaloosa, Alabama. However, whether by luck or design, the Aggies and Crimson Tide will not face one another come 2024, meaning that’s one less part of the gauntlet that A&M will have to run through in the SEC.

Apostolics vs. Aggies

Florida may be the toughest challenge right now, as, despite a down year in 2022, coach Billy Napier has multiple solid recruiting classes under his belt who will be sophomores and juniors by the time the Aggies come to town. Auburn is a true wild card, as it brings in former Ole Miss head coach and burner phone enthusiast Hugh Freeze. If he can get Auburn to the level he had the Rebels in in the 2010s, the trip to the Plains in ‘24 could prove to be a difficult one.

The only real eye-opening non-conference game on the 2024 schedule is against a historic powerhouse, as the Aggies will welcome the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to College Station. The two schools only faced off five times prior, and only once has it been outside the state of Texas. Notre Dame leads the all-time series 3-2, but the last matchup was a 24-3 Aggie victory at home in 2001.

The real ‘rivalry’ between Notre Dame and A&M stems from 2020, when many of the Aggie faithful felt like they were snubbed of a CFP appearance as the Fighting Irish claimed the fourth and final spot over A&M. The one-sided resentment will finally culminate on the field, and Aggie fans will hope to let out some deep-seeded aggression.

Well, that didn’t take long game powerhouse, Dame schools off and has leads was home stems felt

Commentary: Aggies gone pro

Sports writer breaks down former students’ path to NWSL

By Kylie Stoner @sportsbystoner

Six Aggies play in the National Women’s Soccer League, or NWSL, including one on loan expiring at the end of the month and another with a season-ending injury. As the second half of the season approaches, the four active Aggie players’ teams sit below the playoff line.

The Houston Dash currently sit at the No. 7 spot just below the play-off line. The Dash have Shea Groom, Class of 2015, and Barbara Olivieri, Class of 2024.

Oliveri began her professional career after the conclusion of her sophomore season, so she did not complete her degree. She began professional play in Feb. 2022 with C.F. Monterrey Femenil in Liga MX Femenil, but Olivieri signed with the Dash in Feb. 2023.

The midfielder has a 100% tackle success rate. In the UKG NWSL Challenge Cup match against the Chicago Red Stars on May 3, Olivieri scored her first Dash goal.

Unfortunately for Groom, she sits on the season-ending injury list due to an ACL tear on June 2. This injury comes after her only appearance of the season on May 26 which was her return to play from a MCL tear in mid March.

Below the Dash in the standings is the No. 9 Orlando Pride who acquired Ally Watt, Class of 2019, in a trade with OL Reign in August

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of 2022. The Pride’s most recent match was a 3-1 victory over No. 3 Portland Thorns in which Watt played 66 of her 338 total minutes so far this season.

Watt scored two goals in the UKG NWSL Challenge Cup. She played the full 90 minutes in two games where she scored a goal in each against the Washington Spirit and the North Carolina Courage.

The Seattle, Washington-based team, OL Reign, sits within the play-offs margin at No. 4. Texas A&M’s Class of 2021 defender Jimena López currently plays for an Icelandic club in UMF Selfoss as she is on loan from OL Reign. López’s loan began March 24 and lasts until June.

Angel City FC recently fired their head coach Freya Coombe due to a six-match winless streak as they sit at tenth on the table.

The last game the expansion side played was against fellow Southern California team the San Diego Wave, winning 2-1 to force their way up one spot in the rankings.

The only Aggie on the Los Angeles based team is Class of 2012 Merritt Mathias, who hasn’t played a minute since signing with Angel City on January 19.

Sitting second from the bottom of the standings is the Chicago Red Stars, who played A&M Class of 2021 Addie McCain for 45 minutes in 2023. In her only appearance, the former Aggie midfielder was subbed out of the match with a 93.3% pass success rate in a 4-0 loss to her former squad, the Kansas City Current. The Red Stars have won three matches, and they have been against fellow teams below the play-off line.

com

2023

Opinion: Let’s mediate medians

Opinion writer Maddie McMurrough says recent construction is a roadblock

By Maddie McMurrough @MadsMcMurrough

Aggies of all ages condemn the University of Texas as our ultimate foe. However, the real enemies of College Station residents are in our own roads: medians. Not only do I fight off the bad drivers of College Station, but also the medians bent on my driving destruction.

I’m no stranger to missing a turn but lucky for me, my Jeep takes curb hopping like a champ. However, my driving downfall could be prevented if I wasn’t constantly having to U-turn around narrow medians. I’m not a bad driver, but these road dividers sure are making me look like a liar.

After the year-long Holleman Drive closure, the last thing this city needs is more construction. As the Rolling Stones so aptly put it: “you can’t always get what you want.” And what I absolutely don’t want is more medians!

As I was driving to my favorite place, the Cinemark on Highway 6, with my sister to see “Evil Dead Rise,” I was confronted with my worst

nightmare (no, it wasn’t a Deadite). A four-word horror story: “Road closed for construction.” I realized that a new median was in development, and that was scarier than any horror movie I’ve seen.

Why does a small town like College Station need this many medians? It’s not like we’re a huge city like Austin or Houston.

The Texas Department of Transportation states that raised medians can help with turning conflicts and traffic flow. As far as I can tell, these medians only create more conflicts — not only for drivers but also for businesses along these median-divided roads.

How many times have you decided to go to a restaurant on your side of the road because you don’t want to deal with the hassle of finding a way around these raised medians? Or missed your turn; adding an outrageous amount of time to your journey and just went home out of sheer defeat? Many businesses along the roads most recently blessed with a new median are upset at the disturbance they’ve caused their business.

With residents furiously typing up a storm on Twitter and Facebook, it’s hard for the city to deny the majority of people are anti-medians. Why is our city smothering the capitalist flame of our local businesses? These medians are trying to run people out of business. When did College Station

become so anti-capitalist?

Not only are the medians disrupting businesses but also jeopardizing safety in a way you may not expect.

“My main concern is going to be if we have a fire or any emergency,” College Station resident Laura Sanders told KBTX. “Any emergency vehicles probably couldn’t make the turn. It’s just not safe and the possibility of a fire ... we wouldn’t be able to get a vehicle in here to put it out.”

I’m shocked and horrified that our city would isolate some of their citizens like that. College Station is better than that, and the real cost of these medians could be our lives.

So if the businesses and residents of College Station are suffering at the hands of these medians, why keep adding them? Our town is overly saturated with medians, but the city refuses to stop. Imagine what we could accomplish for the betterment of our community if the money spent on medians was concentrated elsewhere?

With the population clocking in at about 242,014 residents, it makes sense that we would have traffic flow problems. We have four main roads and almost 75,000 students driving on them daily, so I appreciate the planners for trying to figure out a solution. But, at the end of the day, does constant construction and divided roads really solve the issue? It’s

like putting a band-aid on a bullet hole. It does nothing but give the illusion of fixing the problem.

Any student who’s waited almost an hour to U-turn on University Drive could beg to differ.

College Station is already infamous for its driving, with deadly wrecks and fender-benders happening on the weekly. I can’t imagine how tight U-turns and confining road medians help keep citizens safe.

Most of my near-death experiences were at the hands of poor road layout. We put our lives on the line every day when we buckle into our cars and we would expect these roads to be designed with our safety in mind. But, with these constant median additions, when is enough going to be enough?

The city planners aren’t going to stop until every road is divided, and that means every driver must be twice as vigilant. So if we can’t stop the medians from taking over, we must learn how to drive like Vin Diesel in “Fast and Furious” and look out for other drivers like they’re our family.

Maddie McMurrough is an agricultural communications and journalism sophomore and opinion writer for The Battalion.

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THE BATTALION is published bi-weekly Thursdays during the 2023 summer session at Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843. Offices are in Suite L400 of the Memorial Student Center.

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