page_title: History of East Texas State University
hierarchical_section_title: History of East Texas State University
caption_attribution_description: 14292-BA building sunset 1606-Edit-final.jpg Texas A&amp;M University–Commerce BA building at sunset
context_page_description: The history of East Texas State University comprises the history of the university now known as Texas A&M University–Commerce from its renaming as East Texas State University in 1965 to its admission into the Texas A&M University System and renaming as Texas A&M University–Commerce in 1996. During this era, ETSU was led by five different presidents: James Gilliam Gee, D. Whitney Halladay, F. H. "Bub" McDowell, Charles J. Austin, and Jerry Morris. The ETSU period witnessed substantial swings in student enrollment, which grew from 8,890 in 1968 to 9,981 in 1975 before falling to 6,867 in 1985 and partially recovering to 8,000 in 1992. The university's physical plant expanded steadily throughout the period, from 87 buildings on 150 acres valued at $19 million in 1965 to a campus spanning 1,883 acres worth approximately $150 million by the 1990s.
  Major structural changes to the university during the ETSU era included the creation of a separate ETSU board of regents in 1969 and the approval to open a branch campus in Texarkana in April 1971.
context_section_description: The history of East Texas State University (ETSU) comprises the history of the university now known as Texas A&M University–Commerce from its renaming as East Texas State University in 1965 (after the establishment of its first doctoral program) to its admission into the Texas A&M University System and renaming as Texas A&M University–Commerce in 1996. During this era, ETSU was led by five different presidents: James Gilliam Gee, D. Whitney Halladay, F. H. "Bub" McDowell, Charles J. Austin, and Jerry Morris. The ETSU period witnessed substantial swings in student enrollment, which grew from 8,890 in 1968 to 9,981 in 1975 before falling to 6,867 in 1985 and partially recovering to 8,000 in 1992. The university's physical plant expanded steadily throughout the period, from 87 buildings on 150 acres (61 ha) valued at $19 million in 1965 to a campus spanning 1,883 acres (762 ha) worth approximately $150 million by the 1990s.
  Major structural changes to the university during the ETSU era included the creation of a separate ETSU board of regents in 1969 and the approval to open a branch campus in Texarkana in April 1971. While at times accused of cronyism and wasteful spending, the university administration pursued innovative programs that provided counseling and tutoring to disabled and minority students, supported disadvantaged local minority high school students, and joined consortia such as the Federation of North Texas Area Universities. The administration first lowered ETSU's academic standards for admission before raising them in successive efforts to end its enrollment crisis. The most serious threat to face ETSU stemmed from the economic downturn in Texas in the mid-1980s, which led to proposals to close the school entirely before a bus trip with 450 supporters trekked to the State Capitol in a show of support that ultimately secured the school's continued existence.
  As the student body shrank in size in the late 1970s and early 1980s, however, it became increasingly diverse as older non-traditional students, minority students, and international students all grew in numbers. Through the African-American Student Society at East Texas (ASSET), the university's African American students advocated their demands for equal treatment in housing, course offerings in African American history and literature, and the employment of African American faculty members. Their efforts ultimately resulted in the first African American faculty member and administrator being hired in 1968 and 1972, respectively. Similarly, the proportion of female faculty members grew from 20% in 1975 to almost 26% in 1990, and the first woman to hold a high-level academic office was promoted in 1987.
  ETSU's Five Star Series brought many prestigious artists and creative minds to campus, including author Alex Haley as well as actors Larry Linville and Vincent Price. Its Sam Rayburn Symposium likewise featured prominent politicians and scholars, including Lady Bird Johnson, former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives John William McCormack, Congressman Ray Roberts, and Speaker of the House Jim Wright. The football team won the NAIA national championship in 1972, while Lion football players such as Autry Beamon, Harvey Martin, Dwight White, and Wade Wilson went on to star in the National Football League (NFL). The men's tennis team won the 1972 and 1978 NAIA national championships, while future Olympian John Carlos competed for the men's track team in 1966–67. After the passage of Title IX in 1972, ETSU fielded women's teams in basketball, tennis, track, and volleyball, with the volleyball team achieving the most success during the period.
caption: The McDowell Business Administration Building, built during the presidency of D. Whitney Halladay
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