UT places CS under the Natural Sciences, and indeed I have spent the lion's share of my 3 years here studying algorithms, discrete math, and numerous levels of predicate logic.
At A&M, however, the focus was on engineering robust software, using theory where applicable (straight from Dr Stroustrup's mouth during a lecture, actually, and his views were widely accepted among the faculty I spoke with). CS is under the Engineering School there, and they felt that was where it belongs.
I think part of the issues is semantics. A&M CS is not known as a prestigious department, but their engineering college as a whole is; they might see it as an admission of inferiority to be "merely" the practical side of things. However, what they do is not inferior (even if it's not what I want to study): it's the other side of the coin, but they want the department to be just as well known so they use an improper term to catch attention. I think they have a great opportunity here to differentiate their offerings and start the trend if they would just call it the Department of Software Engineering to complement their well-known Petroleum, Electrical, Computer, Nuclear, Mechanical, Civic, etc offerings.
[edit: apologies for poor articulation and verbosity. resolved wontfix].