Rio Grande Herald (Rio Grande City, Tex.), Vol. 31, No. 7, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 22, 1973 Page: 3 of 28
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Thursday', February 22,1973 the rio grande herald page 3
* 1
U Of South Bill Introduced
A bill to create the third
largest university system in the
state was introduced into the
Texas Senate Thursday by Ed-
inburg Senator Raul Longoria
and Sens. Mike McKinnon, of
Corpus Cnristi and John Trae-
ger, of Seguin.
That will would merge Pan
American University and the
Texas A&I systems and create
the University of South Texas
with campuses in six South Tex-
as cities.
The three senators, after in-
troducing the proposed legisla-
tion, conducted a series of three
press conferences throughout
South Texas Thursday afternoon
explaining what the bill would do
The senators and their partj
made stops in Corpus Christi,
Edinburg and Laredo Thursday
afternoon.
Speaking at the news confer-
ence at Pan American in Edin-
burg Longoria said, the "It is
my belief that the University
of South Texas system will pro-
vide the people of South Texas
the opportunity to obtain high-
er education of excellence close
to home."
Longoria said, "The joint sys-
tem also would unite the entire
South Texas legislation delega-
tion behind a common goal and
objective — insuring adequate
funding for this system and its
components."
The new system, Longoria
S«>n. John Traeger
said, would have campuses in
Edinburg, Kingsville, Laredo,
Corpus Christi, a citrus center
at Weslaco and provisions for
an upper-level institution in
Brownsville.
He said the schools would bo
able to provide schools of law,
medicine and pharmacy not a-
vailable in the area now.
The system would be governed
by a nine-member board. Three
of the members would come
from the existing board at Pan
American, three from the A&I
system board and three mem-
bers would be chosen by the
governor.
He said the governor would
also establish the initial stag-
gering of the board members
terms for either two, four or
six years in length.
Longoria said the bill as in-
troduced calls for the system
to become effective Sept. 1,1973.
He said members of the boards
of regents at both Pan Ameri-
can and Texas A&I had been
polled about the creation of the
university system and they all
favored the approach.
Longoria also said he and the
other legislators would be in-
terested in hearing from citi-
zens of the South Texas area
about the proposed s' stem.
McKinnon said, "The key thing
about this bill is that it will
unite the three senators and we
can go on and build this sys-
tem into the finest educational
systems in the state."
He praised Longoria for his
work on the bill mid for getting
it introduced into the Senate.
Traeger said the bill and the
creation of the university sys-
tem is "of tremendous future
import to all of South Texas."
He said a system ol' this type
will unite "17 or 18 house mem-
bers and three senators" and be
a great help in getting appro-
priations ff;r the system.
"The University of Texas sys-
tem and the A&M system have
found this approach to be a very
advantage' i! way to go about
it," Traeger said.
He said, "One of the practical
matters of this bill is that we
will have more political clout in
Austin."
McKinnon said the complexion
of the legislature in Austin is
changing and that higher educa-
tion is finding it harder to get
more funds. He said this com-
bined effort would assist in get-
ting appropriations.
Longoria said the names of
the individual campuses will in-
due The University of South
Texas and the name of the city,
such as The University of South
Texas at Edinburg. The Univer-
sity of South Texas at Browns-
ville, etc.
"After months of study and
discussion with the existing
boards of Ixjth Pan American
University and Texas A&I Uni-
versity, my colleagues and I
feel this plan will greatly im-
prove the structure of liigher
education in South Texas am!
offer its people the best oppor-
tunity to improve themselves
and their way of life, "Longoria
said.
The first official mention of
the proposed creation of a un-
iversity system for South Tex-
as was made by Longoria about
six weeks ago when he spoke
before the Rio Grande Valley
Press Club.
At this time he mentioned that
he was working on such a pro-
posal and that he did plan to in-
troduce such legislation some-
time this year.
Earlier than this Dr. Ralph
Schilling, president of Pan Am-
erican, had hinted at such a
possibility at a breakfast meet-
ing with the press in October of
last year.
At that time Dr. Schilling told
of plans for instituting classes
in Brownsville and hinted at
creating a campus there.
Catholics
W arned
Teaching and sharing her
sewing machine, Delia Sanchez
of Hidalgo helped 1C girls and
homemakers of her neighbor-
hood learn to sew a basic dress.
Raquel Salas of Hidalgo also
served as an instructor. Certi-
ficates of completion were pre-
sented to the group on Febru-
ary 2.
S'ti. Mike McKinnon
I
%
I
t,
Sen. Haul Loiiiforiu
fill
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Trejo, Raul. Rio Grande Herald (Rio Grande City, Tex.), Vol. 31, No. 7, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 22, 1973, newspaper, February 22, 1973; Rio Grande City, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth194396/m1/3/: accessed March 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rio Grande City Public Library.