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Colleges continue to play Musical names

Editor’s note: The following syndicated column appeared earlier in several newspapers, including the Park Cities News and the Kerrville Daily Times. It is reprinted with permission.

"They're doing it again. ...Where is East Texas State?"

They are doing it again. Every time we get the names of Texas’ colleges and universities down pat, someone wants to rename them. Where is East Texas State? What did they do with Texas Western? Has anyone seen Texas A&I or the Texas State University for Negroes? And where, oh where, is the CIA-College for Industrial Arts?

The latest outrage is a move by some misguided alumni and student groups to change the name of Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos to Texas State University. They believe dropping the “Southwest” would help attract better out-of-state students and faculty.

So here we go again, finding ourselves needlessly confused. The school began life as Southwest Texas State Normal College, which raises an obvious question: If we have normal colleges, were there abnormal colleges? Subsequently, it became Southwest Texas State Teachers College, then they dropped the “teachers,” eventually changing “college” to “university,” and became Southwest Texas State University, which is what we have today, but maybe not tomorrow. There are no doubt generations of painters in San Marcos who have made a good living just by changing signs on the campus.

"If we have normal Colleges, were there abnormal coleges?"

This renaming schools is practically a cottage industry in Texas. We started early. The very first venture by the state into higher education was not, as many think, the University of Texas, but the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, which eventually became the Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College—they put the ”Texas” part up front. Today, it is called Texas A&M University. But do you know what the actual, official name is? Texas A&M University. No periods after either the A or the M because they no longer stand for words.

Same for Texas Tech. It began life as “West Texas A&M” and was supposed to be in Abilene, but became Texas Technological College in Lubbock. Today, it is Texas Tech University. There is no period after Tech. So you go to the University of Texas? Which one? For generations, that was an easy question for there was only one. Now, there are UTs spread all over the place. Tyler, Permian Basin, Dallas, San Antonio and on and on.

For some reason, I always like UT-El Paso, now known as UTEP. For years, it was called Texas Western University. It began life as the State School of Mines and Metallurgy and for the first decade awarded one single degree: engineer of mining. The school has a certain appeal because its buildings were modeled after temples in Bhutan. You don’t often see that in West Texas.

There are also Texas A&Ms all over the place. One is now Texas A&M-Commerce. It started as East Texas State Teachers College, and one of its students, who made money sweeping out classrooms and ringing the campus bell every 45 minutes, was Sam Rayburn. We also have one university named after the president of another university, which is odd. Sul Ross was president of Texas A&M. Now we have Sul Ross State University, which plays lousy football but has one great rodeo team.

Incidentally, what is all this name changing from “college” to “university” as though, by scraping off one name and painting on another, the institution is upgraded? Dartmouth, one of the nation’s finer institutions of higher learning, is Dartmouth College. Since 1769, it has turned out generations of leaders for the country and seems to have no need to hype up its name. In this regard, maybe Southwest Texas should change its name to “Southwest Texas University, the Only School in the State That Produced a President.”

Our schools’ names can get very confusing, especially to an outsider. We have the University of Houston (with four campuses and four different names) and Sam Houston State University. If you say, “My money and my

please see “CAN’T KEEP UP,” page 11

Alumna Solomon makes the team

Vatra Solomon (BS ‘68), third from left, has been selected by new Texas Lt. Gov. Bill Ratliff to serve on his transition team. Vatra has been with Ratliff since his 1988 campaign, when she was brought on board to serve as assistant campaign manager. Her father, Democrat Neal Solomon, served in the Texas House of Representatives from 1965 to 1972. After getting her degree from the University, Vatra taught for several years, then joined the Texas State Teachers Association. It was while she was establishing her insurance business in Mount Pleasant, Texas, that Vatra met Ratliff. A lifelong Democrat, she said she saw in Ratliff, a Republican, the qualities she had come to believe were needed in Austin. Pictured from left to right are Don Edmonds of Tyler, Texas, the director of transition; Lt. Gov. Bill Ratliff; Vatra, executive assistant; and Eric Wright, chief of staff.