The following is an open letter from Texas A&M-Commerce alum Ted Crim. Mr. Crim has sent this letter to the TAMU Board of Regents and asked that I publish it, and I do so proudly.

-The Lion Wire Staff

Dear Sirs,

My name is Ted R. Crim and I am writing this communication as a departure from my usual practice as a result of my strong opposition to the proposed name change to my collegiate alma mater, Texas A&M University-Commerce (TAMUC), Class of 1970.  

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in 1970 and a master’s degree in 1971, I was employed with the United States Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) from 1973 through 2004.  During that thirty one year career, I competed with individuals who had attended many institutions of higher education throughout the nation.  The quality education that I received while a student at then East Texas State University provided me with the requisite knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to effectively negotiate the highly competitive environment of Federal Service.

When I was a student at TAMUC, the University has already undergone five name changes since its founding in 1889, all to more accurately reflect the University’s expanding and broader academic and administrative scope.  The sixth and final (hopefully) name change occurred in 1996 when the University entered the Texas A&M University System.  TAMUC has been a significant and sustained force in Texas higher education for over 137 years.  At the time of entry into the Texas A&M University System, TAMUC was already 107 years old and had its own higher education system.  

The pending proposal to change the name of Texas A&M University-Commerce deviates from previous institutional name changes, both in role and purpose, and, even more importantly, disregards over 137 years of a venerable institution of higher education that has graduated thousands of alumni in all fields of human endeavor including national historical figure, the Honorable Sam Rayburn, longest serving Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.  A name change to the long and distinguished legacy of TAMUC would obliterate the historical origins of the University and disenfranchise thousands of alumni who have already had to contend with earlier changes to the University’s name.

TAMUC predates almost all other institutions of higher education in the State of Texas and beyond including Rice University, SMU, Texas Tech, UNT, UTD, UTA, Stanford and many more.  Texas A&M University was a whopping 13 years old when TAMUC was established and the University of Texas was only 6 years old when the University was founded.  The proposed name change will eradicate a 137 year legacy in a single, unnecessary and unjustified action with little or no respect or regard for the reputation and prestige of Texas A&M University-Commerce.  

The President of TAMUC has characterized his view of the University when he became President as an institution primarily situated in a rural location and culture.  Really?  Let’s see, Colgate University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College and Williams College (often the top rated institution in the nation) are all located in rural areas and it does not seem to adversely affect their self perception or those interested in attending those schools.  All of those schools’ are top tier institutions know worldwide as among the finest in the United States.  There are many more examples but the message here and to the President of TAMUC is simply that it is not where you are located geographically, it is what you are where you are.  After all, College Station is hardly a metropolis.

The proposed name change originates from one purpose and one purpose only.  To project the Texas A&M brand in the Dallas area. To do so, approving this ill advised and destructive name change will negate what is approaching a century and a half of notable higher education services and opportunity to anyone seeking a top tier educational experience and will obliterate the rich, historical roots of TAMUC to serve the near insatiable quest to promote Texas A&M University regardless of the adverse and destructive affect such a policy would have on Texas A&M University-Commerce.  But this kind of near unchecked institutionalism adventurism is hardly new or unexpected.  

In closing, I would like to point out one other salient observation that I hope will create a sense of urgency and concern for the proposed TAMUC name change.  All Texas A&M University Board of Regent members are alum of Texas A&M University, a respected institution of higher education for almost a century and a half.  Each of you understandably regard your alma mater with respect and pride as you should.  But, for a moment, please consider how you would feel if the name, identity and vaunted history of Texas A&M University itself was being threatened in the way that TAMUC is now being threatened.  This threat would result in the dissolution of over 137 years of operation as a distinct and needed higher education institution that is as important and prideful to TAMUC alums as Texas A&M University is to it’s alums.  The 

If any one of you thought that Texas A&M University was under threat to lose its identity and its unique campus culture, steps would be taken immediately to confront that threat and dispense with the destructive purpose from which it originated.  The same is true for TAMUC.  The projection of Texas A&M University is assured and present in virtually every Texas county.  In the Dallas/Fort Worth area alone, Texas A&M signage is conspicuously visible at the Texas A&M Law School at Texas Wesleyan University in far east Fort Worth, the Texas A&M University Dental College near Downtown Dallas and the sprawling agricultural experimental farm in far North Dallas. The name and brand of Texas A&M University is strong and present everywhere and seeking to strengthen that presence is destructive and unnecessary for any number of reasons, not the least of which is the visual elimination of the rich and lengthy historical legacy of TAMUC.  

I fervently hope that the proposed name change for TAMUC will be seen as unneeded and inordinately destructive to another institution with its own sense of history and tradition that deserves preservation.  Again, how would you feel if there was a threat to Texas A&M University being absorbed within the identity of another institution.  I doubt that any of you would be pleased with that prospect.  I ask with great humility to preserve and retain the rich history and legacy of Texas A&M University-Commerce.  As shown before, it is not where an institution is located, it is what that institution is where it is located.  Texas A&M University itself is demonstrative of that and Texas A&M is not in need of projecting itself.  Everyone out there is already is quite cognizant of Texas A&M and its efforts to project itself should not be at the absolute expense of another venerable institution of higher education.  I respectfully ask that you please do not approve any name change for Texas A&M University.  By any measure, it is neither needed nor wanted. 

I hope that I have illuminated the core issue with the pending name change proposal.  The respect and regard that I have for my collegiate alma mater and that of thousands of other TAMUC alumni hang in the balance with your decision.  Voting no to the TAMUC name change will preserve the history and the traditions of a 137 year old institution of higher education.  A vote the rejects a name change to TAMUC will not damage Texas A&M University in any way small or large.  It will destroy a University that started as a private college in 1889 and has progressed through the years to be a viable and essential institution of higher education that thousands of alumni call their alma mater. Please be respectful of the irreplaceable TAMUC legacy.

Ted R. Crim