The Battalion: March 20, 2017 by The Battalion

Brooks to serve as first openly gay SBP

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Economics junior to take over as the 74th Student Body President at Muster Ceremony April 21 By Josh McCormack @_JoshMcCormack

conomics junior Bobby Brooks will serve as the first openly gay student body president after the end of the latest Student Government Association elections, setting a hallmark for the university and

its culture. The official confirmation of Brooks’ victory came weeks after the polls closed due to the disqualification of candidate Robert McIntosh, who filed two different appeals attempting to overturn his disqualification. “I would like it to echo the sentiment that I’ve always had, that I am just ready to get to work here, get things done,” Brooks said. “Someone had do it at some point. I think it’s less about me, Bobby, and more about a person that filled that role is now here and that is what’s really exciting for me.” MSC President Brian O’Hara has worked with Brooks as the MSC Executive Vice President of Diversity over the last year to bring about changes like creating diversity dialogue for students to participate in. While Brooks being elected is exciting, O’Hara said, this is just one step toward inclusion in the university. “I think it’s easy for us to say that we have made progress,” O’Hara said. “We have as a university to a certain degree, but what’s more important is that our student leaders are continually more and more representative, and more and more true to they are as the student body. I think Bobby Brooks is an amazing Aggie, he loves Texas A&M and he happens to be gay.” Current senior class president Claire Wimberly, who was also Brooks’ campaign manager, is looking forward to having Brooks in office and seeing what he will bring to the table. “I hope to see him accomplish all that he set out to do during campaign. His goals — keeping student fees low, making student services meet real student needs, increasing feedback regarding academics and making our campus more inclusive — are all attainable,” Wimberly said. “I know he’s going to surround himself with an amazing team, and I am looking forward to the progress they are going to make on our campus.” Bobby’s life and struggles with sexuality Before he had any question of who he was, who he was attracted to or what he wanted to do, Bobby Brooks knew he wanted to be an Aggie. “I was an Aggie from the first day that I was born, there was no choice about it,” Brooks said. “My sexuality was a non-issue in terms of selecting Texas A&M as a university because I knew what this university could offer.” Despite the easy choice of attending Texas A&M, Brooks said his sexuality wasn’t something that came easy. “My sexuality was something that I never wanted to particularly address growing up,” Brooks said. “I had a strong history of suppression with my own feelings toward that. I had known for a very long time but I didn’t want to accept that and thought it would just get better.” In high school, Brooks began his career in student leadership

Junior Bobby Brooks is the 2016-2017 MSC executive vice president of diversity and will serve as next school year’s student body president. Hanna Hausman — THE BATTALION

BROOKS ON PG. 3

A&M brings chemistry road show, virtual reality to SXSW By Josh Hopkins @TexasJoshua1 Among the dozens of displays, interactive events and panels available to participants of South by Southwest last week, the Aggies stole the show with seven activations highlighting work from across the university. South by Southwest is a globally recognized festival which draws together interactive, film and music industries, attracting tens of thousands each year. This year Texas A&M took over the Hotel Van Zandt, filling it with displays such as a chemistry road show, a virtual reality display combining art with technology and an Aggies Invent competition. Amy B. Smith, senior vice president and chief marketing and communications officer at Texas A&M, said she felt A&M’s mission at South By Southwest was successful. “A definite yes on building awareness and enhancing reputation by showcasing student and faculty work in a very futuristic manner,” Smith said. “Time will tell on our third goal: To grow the number of Fortune 500 companies hiring our students. There were many companies present who saw our exhibits and feedback was tremendous.” Marco Palma, associate professor and SXSW ON PG. X

Via GoFundMe

A GoFundMe has been started to help pay junior Kenneth Belden’s hospital bills that has already raised more than $6,000.

Senior Yell Leader Belden hospitalized after accident By Megan Rodriguez @MeganLRodriguez

VIA TEXAS A&M

At SXSW, Texas A&M Invents for an Intelligent Future allowed attendees to operate robots through a course with a video feed to their goggles.

Kenneth Belden, newly elected Senior Yell Leader for 2017-2018 and agricultural economics junior, was severely injured in an all-terrain vehicle accident in Colorado during spring break and has been hospitalized. According to The Eagle, Belden is currently recovering in a Colorado hospital Inten-

sive Care Unit. Bob Winckler, Class of 1955, left a message on a TexAgs forum that said Belden was air lifted from Lake George to a hospital in Colorado Springs after the incident. Winckler said Belden’s injuries include a concussion, a broken back, three broken ribs, a broken collarbone, a fractured pelvis and a collapsed lung. Belden successfully underwent surgery on March 13, according to his mother Danielle Belden’s recent BELDEN ON PG. 2

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Texas A&M showcased the work of students and faculty at South by Southwest over spring break in Austin, where thousands of people were able to interact with A&M’s productions.

SXSW CONTINUED extension economist with the Human Behavior Laboratory, and Steven Woltering, assistant professor and Director of the Neurobiological Lab for Learning and Development, were two of the members of a four-member group called “The human lab: Revealing the emotional brain,” which demonstrated how they connect brainwaves and track eye movement and facial expressions to determine a person’s choices. Woltering said each of the members of the panel emphasized the possible application of biometrics in different fields. “My presentation aimed to show how biometrics can revolutionize the field of

education in the future,” Woltering said. “I wanted the audience to know about a new initiative at the College of Education called the Neurobiological lab for Learning and Development (NLD) which aims to bridge recent advances in neurobiology and apply them in an educational context.” Palma said he was excited to see the variety of events A&M at South by Southwest and enjoyed the experience of participating. “It was great to have the opportunity to share our vision for the Human Behavior Laboratory,” Palma said. “We hope to be able to engage with faculty and students interested in using this technology in their research and outreach efforts.”

Smith said she hopes to eventually bring A&M back to South by Southwest. “It makes sense to go back,” Smith said. “The event is global but based nearby. It is attended by corporations who hire our students, media who can spread the word about what we do, venture capital investors and government agencies who provide grants.” Smith said A&M’s participation in South by Southwest is part of a bigger picture. “This is about telling the story of the amazing things that Texas A&M students and faculty do,” Smith said. “SXSW participation was just a small step. There is more to come — born in the minds of scholars who may be reading this now and who will be featured next year.”

Application forms should be picked up from and returned to Douglas Pils, Student Media General Manager, in Suite L410 of the MSC. Deadline for submitting application: 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 28, 2017.

BELDEN CONTINUED Facebook post. Newly elected 2017-2018 Senior Yell Leader and construction science junior Ian Moss said Belden is well on his way toward recovering from the accident. “He is on the path to recovery to be back within the next couple of months,” Moss said. Ag communication and journalism junior Johnna Ranae Lee started a GoFundMe account titled “Ken Belden Recovery Fund” on March 15. Lee said she has personal experience with the challenges that come with a loved one being hospitalized and wanted to do what she could to help the Belden family. “My family has struggled with numerous medical issues

and I have seen my fair share of hospital rooms and during an emergency situation like this. I know the last thing I wanted [his family] to be worried about was finances,” Lee said. “I wanted them to be focused on Ken and making sure he was recovering and that we get him back into Aggieland soon.” Johnna has been in contact with the Belden family since she began the GoFundMe account and said the Belden’s have been amazed by the support they are receiving. “The biggest thing I want everyone to know on behalf of his family is just how grateful they are for all of the calls texts the Facebook and Twitter messages — everything they have FILE received,” Lee said. “They are completely overwhelmed with Junior Kenneth Belden was hospitalized over spring gratitude for the Aggie family.” break following an ATV accident. Women’s basketball uses historic 21-point comeback in the fourth quarter of their first round match up with Penn to advance to the second round of the tournament where they will play No. 4 UCLA.

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BROOKS CONTINUED and ran for student body president. Through that role, he also took his first steps in acknowledging his sexuality. “Toward my senior year of high school, I actually ran for a senior class president position at my high school and whenever I got that certain people started paying more attention to me,” Brooks said. “Through that there was someone who I had always thought was attractive and whatnot so [we started talking]. So through that person, through that experience, I was able to explore that side of me, my sexuality, a little bit.” After he graduated high school, Brooks spent time studying abroad in Paris. During that period he felt comfortable expressing himself as a gay man without the pressures he felt in Texas. Coming back to the United States and entering his freshman year of college put a pause of his self expression. “So when I got here to Aggieland, it started out with me kind of being afraid of [my sexuality] in general because I was back in this Texas kind of pressure, but there was something new to it in that I was now my own person, more than I was back in high school,” Brooks said. When Brooks made his way to College Station, he became involved with the organization MSC Freshmen Leadership International and made a friend who was French and encouraged Brooks to be comfortable with his identity. “I eventually felt comfortable enough opening up to her ... So she and I went to get coffee and I set it up. I was like, ‘I have something big to tell you,’” Brooks said. “I was still so nervous. We chatted about it and then I told her in French… ‘Je suis gay.’” The friendship allowed Brooks to grow into his sexuality in a healthy way, Brooks said. As time passed he became more and more comfortable with who he was, eventually telling his family the truth. “I started opening up to more and more people, little bit by little bit. My

family was very accepting,” Brooks said. These experiences led to him pursue leadership roles at A&M so he could be representative of his character with the goal of fostering the values of others as well. “If I sell my identity short, I’m selling the identities short of every single person on this campus who doesn’t have the opportunity to run for student body president,” Brooks said. “How am I supposed to tell someone’s little sibling who wants to come to Texas A&M that ‘It’s going to be fine, we’re working on a better Texas A&M,’ when I actively repress my identity for X amount of time just to get something?” Plans for office Brooks will take office following the final Muster speech of current SBP Hannah Wimberly April 21. He said he has three main goals going into office. First he is concerned A&M’s name in the field of academia. “I want Texas A&M to be the name in Texas. We already have that happening, but I want people to be aware of that also because right now Texas A&M is doing a really good job of getting all sorts of students from all backgrounds and making leaders out of them that do succeed in the workplace. So right now it’s just making sure that that can be marketed better and get more people to buy into the university so that we can turn the wheel a little bit there,” Brooks said. Brooks also hopes to bring improvements to Student Services, streamlining and upgrading its processes. “Another thing [I will be] working on is student services, these are things that are going to affect students in their everyday life. We can do a heck of a lot of a better job of having the most efficient and user-friendly services on campus. I think we do have a lot good things coming our way in terms of upgrading the student experience,” Brooks said. The final piece of his plans involve

what he has been working with this entire year — diversity and inclusion. “Finally it’s about that diversity and inclusion piece,” Brooks said. “Making sure that every student who comes here feels welcome and that is a 100 percent number. I want every single student to feel that they are welcome here and their contributions are welcome.”

“If I sell my identity short, I’m selling the identities short of every single person on this campus who doesn’t have the opportunity to run for student body president.”

Make Traditions Happen, Represent Your Class, Be a Class Officer!

ůĂƐƐ ŽĨ ϮϬϭϴ͕ ϮϬϭϵ͕ Žƌ ϮϬϮϬ͍ 'Ž ƚŽ ĐůĂƐƐĐŽƵŶĐŝůƐ͘ƚĂŵƵ͘ĞĚƵ ƚŽ ůĞĂƌŶ ŵŽƌĞ ĂďŽƵƚ ƐĞƌǀŝŶŐ ǇŽƵƌ ĐůĂƐƐ ĂƐ Ă ůĂƐƐ KĨĨŝĐĞƌ͊ Applications DUE: March 20th at 5:00pm in Koldus 153

Congratulations to

Bobby Brooks, 2017-2018 SBP

Brooks said his campaign was built on the ideologies he has practiced this past year in the MSC, and the same thoughts he hopes to bring to the culture at A&M. “It was getting back to the students and that is something that my experience has been based around from the very beginning. To me, this was fulfilling that dream I had been building since my freshman year,” Brooks said. “I saw that I wanted to do something on a big scale in this world, and I want to help people, and I want to make this world a better place, so I had to start somewhere.”

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