Few places take their traditions more seriously than Texas A&M, but sometimes the seriousness can get in the way of what should be an easy decision. There is debate on whether or not Tobi Oyedeji, a high schooler who had committed to play at A&M next year should be honored at the first Silver Taps of the year. 

For the sake of not making this personal, I will refrain from listing off the plentiful reasons that make Oyedeji a great person, because I don’t want this to sound like I’m lobbying for an exception. I’m not. This should not be an exception, this should be the rule. If a student has committed to being an Aggie, passes away during their senior year of high school, and their family wishes, they should be allowed to take part in Silver Taps. It’s that easy.

The only argument I’ve heard against it is that it would “add a bunch of people every year.” So what? The length of the Silver Taps ceremony doesn’t change if there are more people, it doesn’t cheapen the tradition for the families of those who were already enrolled, so why not?

Because it’s tradition. That’s the only argument against this. “Because the rules have been the same since 1889.”

To me all that means is that we’ve been excluding deserving families from the greatest college tradition of all for 121 years. Well it’s time to change that.

The upside? The friends and families of the fallen get to see what A&M was all about and why their loved one was so excited to attend. They get to see that while their loved one is gone, his/her classmates are there to remember their spirit on carry on for them.

The downside? The list is a littler longer? I’m not really sure what the downside is.

This should be a simple decision, and one that quite frankly I can’t believe wasn’t made a long time ago. Let the families of the deceased decide if their kids were Aggies, not a rule book.