FROMTHEFRONT
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The Battalion | 4.24.17
NYC AGGIES CONTINUED “Yes, New York is different and it is a challenge, but there is a huge support network,” Ellwood said. “People have found their roommates, people to go to shows with and people to work out with. People find others to do social activities with outside of the club.” Ashley Powell, New York Aggies executive vice president, marketing analyst at Cerberus Capital Management and Class of 2011, said the club’s growth has skyrocketed in the past two years. At this year’s New York Aggie Muster A&M football head coach Kevin Sumlin was the Muster Speaker and more than 300 people attended. “The Aggie Network is a family, and we have a great one, but now we are trying to get the rest of them. There are 3,500 Aggies who live in the Tri-State area and [we want] to get more of them,” Powell said. “[Muster] went off without a hitch, which was great. But what was really great was so many people came up to us and said, ‘Thank you.’ They said this was incredible.” New York Aggies gives away three different scholarships to incoming students who are from New York, New Jersey or Connecticut, commonly referred to as the Tri-State area. Ellwood said they make sure to keep in touch with students who move to Texas, helping them to adjust to the Aggie way of life in anyway they can, Ellwood said. “Our club is doing our best to recruit the best students to come to A&M,” Ellwood said. “We work with the foundation and our club to make that happen.” A large part of the New York Aggies’ success
BATHROOM BILL CONTINUED protect the rights of transgender Texans to use the bathroom matching their gender identity in some schools and cities across Texas. “My recommendation is to continue to allow local governments to fill the gap, to allow those protections for these folks as they have been doing up until this point and not to stand in the way of those protections until the state of Texas is prepared to provide them,” said Glen Hilton, licensed professional counselor from Houston, during his testimony. Texas Senate Bill 6 passed the Texas Senate on March 14 and has not yet been assigned to a committee in the Texas House of Representatives. While prohibition or invalidation of local ordinances is included in both bills, SB 6 is more narrowly focused on bathrooms and includes regulations on bathroom use in government buildings — including public universities — that would require each person to use the bathroom corresponding to their “biological sex,” or the sex that is printed on their official birth certificate. Facing opposition from Speaker of the Texas House Joe Straus and a majority of
is attributed the Association of Former Students, Powell said. The Association offers help to all of the alumni clubs to connect their group to College Station. They have an ever-growing group of alumni who are looking to get involved with their fellow Ags who are now living across the country. Ellwood said at this past season’s Alabama game, their watch party had close to 300 in attendance, and they had to host the game at two bars. Looking forward, Powell and Ellwood hope to outgrow Texas alumni clubs to become the place where Aggies looking for jobs go to continue being actively part of the Aggie family. They are currently working to create a job support board and have more than 40 events planned for 2017. “Our biggest priority this year are outreach. How do we get a hold of the people that don’t know we exist or know that we exist but don’t know that we are doing things?” Powell said. “[We want] to have so many things on our schedule so no one can possibly come to all of them.” With all the New York Aggies are doing, the main goal is to make the dream of living in New York City a reality Ellwood said. Ellwood was invited to speak at this year’s TEDxTAMU. He and Powell will be tabling in Rudder Plaza Monday April 24 to advocate for New York Aggies and will be selling T-shirts for $10. “I’ve always known people who were like, ‘I’ve always wanted to go to New York but that’s just unrealistic,’” Ellwood said. “You know what? Right after graduation is the best time to [move to New York]. You are lean and mean and you can find a spot in this city.”
other representatives in the House, SB 6 will likely be stalled indefinitely, according to Lecturer in the Department of Political Science Dwight Roblyer. “At this point, with Straus firmly in control — and he’s got the strong majority of the republicans on his side as well as the democrats on his side when it comes to this — weirder things have happened, but I would give SB 6 a very slim chance of seeing the light of day in the House,” Roblyer said. April 18, one day before Wednesday’s House Committee hearing, Governor Greg Abbott expressed approval of the Texas legislature’s recent efforts in this particular area and signaled support for HB 2899. “I applaud the House and Senate for tackling an issue that is of growing concern to parents and communities across Texas who are now looking to the Legislature for solutions,” Abbott said in a statement to The Texas Tribune. “Rep. Simmons is offering a thoughtful proposal to make sure our children maintain privacy in our school bathrooms and locker rooms.” However, instructional assistant professor of political science Brittany Perry said the regulations proposed by bills like SB 6 and HB
Josh McCormack — THE BATTALION
The New York Aggies, led by their president Andy Ellwood, offers scholarships to talented students in New York to come to A&M.
2899 may be a solution looking for a problem. “It just doesn’t make sense when you look at the data,” Perry said. “We have states that have protections for transgender individuals to use the bathrooms of their choice and in all of these 19 states we have seen no evidence whatsoever that these protections lead to any sort of increased public safety risk.” Rather than presenting any kind of danger, transgender people are actually more likely to be the victims of violence and harassment in bathrooms, Perry said. “The data is very clear that the people who face the most risk in public bathrooms are transgender individuals,” Perry said. “In one study of 27,000 individuals it was found that 1 in 8 transgender adults said they had been harassed, attacked or sexually assaulted in bathrooms.” In addition to concerns over discrimination, the potential economic impact of bathroom legislation has been a major point of discussion in Texas as well as in North Carolina. According to the Texas Association of Business (TAB)’s statement on March 30, North Carolina saw economic fallout to the tune of $3.76 billion in losses after House Bill 2 — similar in scope to Texas’s HB 6 — was passed.
In the face of this economic pressure, North Carolina ultimately opted for a partial repeal of HB 2, softening bathroom restrictions, but placing a three year moratorium on local ordinances that would regulate private employment practices or public accommodations. “It remains to be seen whether the enactment of [the partial repeal] in North Carolina will solve the economic woes brought on by HB 2,” TAB said. “That’s why the Texas business community has made clear that discriminatory laws have no place in Texas in the first place. This kind of legislation is risky business.” Potential economic woes aside, Chase Brunson, sport management senior and President of Texas A&M’s transgender student group Transcend, said he opposes legislation that would create unnecessary obstacles for the transgender population. “Transgender people already have enough struggles to worry about in their personal lives,” Brunson said. “Going through transition is a really hard thing, it’s a really big thing, it’s a really expensive thing. They don’t need the extra stress of walking into a bathroom.”
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HELP WANTED Aggieland Climate Control is hiring AC technicians. Willing to train. Great pay. Great team of Aggies. Email resume to aggielandclimate@gmail.com Athletic men for calendars, books, etc. $75-$150/hr, up to $500/day. No experience. aggieresponse@gmail.com Cheddar's and Fish Daddy's now accepting applications. Apply within, University Dr. City of Bryan now hiring Camp Counselors, Recreation Assistants, Lifeguards and Water Safety Instructors, do not have to be certified. Very competitive wages! Apply online bryantxjobs.com, call 979-209-5528 for more information. EEOC Employer. Cleaning commercial buildings at night, M-F. Call 979-823-5031 for interview. Little Guys Movers now hiring FT/PT employees. Must be at least 21 w/valid D.L. Apply in person at 3209 Earl Rudder Freeway, 979-693-6683 NEED A SUMMER JOB? The City of College Station is hiring recreation assistants for youth summer programs, lifeguards and water safety instructors to teach swim lessons. Enjoy flexible hours, a fun working environment and an equal opportunity employer. Certification programs are also available. For complete details, visit cstx.gov/parks
HELP WANTED Part-time childcare help needed. Please apply in person at 3609 East 29th Bryan, Tx. Receptionist wanted for busy medical practice, excellent for premeds, bring resume to 1605 Rock Prairie Rd Suite 312.
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