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DALLAS (AP) — Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp apologized Tuesday to high school students for racial insults that some minority students say they heard while visiting the College Station campus last week.
Sharp and Texas A&M President Michael Young met privately with the junior class at Uplift Hampton Preparatory, according to a statement from Uplift Education CEO Yasmin Bhatia. State Sen. Royce West joined the A&M leaders at the public charter school in South Dallas.
University officials are investigating allegations that some white A&M students made racial comments or flaunted Confederate flag jewelry on Feb. 9 to taunt the visiting high school students, some of whom were black and Latino. Two black high school students say they were confronted.
"The leadership team extended an apology to the class, praised them for the manner in which they handled a difficult and offensive situation, and offered them the opportunity to ask questions," Bhatia said. The A&M officials and West had expressed outrage last week over treatment of the teens.
Texas A&M Student Body President Joseph Benigno, who also made the trip, presented letters from thousands of students at the college who disavowed racism and supported the high school students. Organizers had hoped to send 10,000 handwritten notes. Letter-writing stations were set up Monday across campus.
Uplift Education spokeswoman Sara Ortega did not have an estimate on how many letters the students received but said there were thousands.
"I encouraged our scholars to keep the letters as a symbol of time when they overcame an obstacle on their journey to a college degree," Bhatia said. Uplift Education is largest charter school network in North Texas, with 16 campuses in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, according to its website.
University officials did not immediately comment on Tuesday morning's private meeting or provide an update of the status of the investigation. West earlier called for possible expulsion of any A&M students involved in the incident.
The Texas A&M University System, with 11 universities and other operations including a health science center, has more than 140,000 students.
MARFA, Texas (AP) — A county judge's determination via telephone that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died of natural causes and required no autopsy was unusual, Texas officials said, but sometimes happens in rural areas of Texas where a county can be bigger than some U.S. states.
Within two hours of Scalia's body being found Saturday at Cibolo Creek Ranch in remote West Texas, Presidio county Judge Cinderela Guevara, who was 60 miles away, consulted by phone with the county sheriff and a U.S. marshal and concluded there was no foul play. After speaking to Scalia's personal doctor later that evening, she decided that he had died of natural causes and no autopsy was necessary.
"I have no issue with how she handled his death," said David Beebe, a justice of the peace in Presidio County, where Scalia died.
Beebe is one of two justices of the peace in the county who are routinely called by authorities to verify a death. Both Beebe and the second justice of the peace were out of town Saturday. Presidio County Sheriff Danny Dominguez, in need of a justice to conduct a death inquest, then called Guevara, who offered to hear the matter.
In rural areas, a justice of the peace typically makes the determination of the cause of death in cases when no witnesses were present. An inquest by phone is as valid as one in person under state law, said Bronson Tucker, an attorney for the Texas Justice Courts Training Center who offers instruction to justices of the peace.
"The huge majority of the time, if you have a 79-year-old overweight person and you have a statement from the physician and zero indicators of foul play, then it's not unusual for there to be no autopsy," said Tucker. "I didn't see any red flags and nothing to say that the judge didn't follow her statutory obligation."
Guevara issued a statement Tuesday defending how she handled the inquest. She said the attorney for Scalia told her the family did not want an autopsy performed because they believe he died of natural causes and they preferred not to delay his body's return to them. Guevara said she consulted with Scalia's physician and the sheriff before deciding against an autopsy.
"I respected the wishes of the Scalia family. ... I did this based upon credible reports to me from law enforcement and from Justice Scalia's personal physician," Guevara said.
Susana Gonzales, a justice of the peace in adjacent Brewster County, said she's never done an inquest by phone but understands there may be situations where it's necessary.
"There's not a procedural mechanism to challenge or appeal the determination by the justice of the peace," Tucker said.
WACO, Texas (AP) — Baylor University President Ken Starr says the Southern Baptist school won't allow concealed handgun license holders to bring their guns on the Waco, Texas, campus.
Texas lawmakers in 2015 forced the state's public schools to allow guns inside campus classrooms and buildings but allowed private schools to continue banning them. Baylor announced the school's position on Tuesday.
Baylor is just the latest large private school to ban guns. Southern Methodist, Rice and Texas Christian universities previously announced they will ban weapons.
The law takes effect Aug. 1. State lawmakers said when they passed the bill they wanted to respect the property rights of private schools.
Several public schools, notably the University of Texas at Austin, have seen fierce protests to guns on campus from faculty, students and staff.