I woke up this morning after an early dental appointment with my phone blowing up. Text messages, facebook messages, and phone calls.
Today, President Mark Rudin announced that in light of the disastrous attempt to rename the Texas A&M University-Commerce to Texas A&M University-Dallas, there had been a groundswell of a movement to change the name of the school to East Texas A&M University. Today, the President wrote to Lion Nation via social media that he would be presenting to the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents to propose a name change to East Texas A&M University. The response was overwhelmingly and enthusiastically positive. It truly was a 180 degree course correction in the right direction. Here are some thoughts on it. In order to make it official, all that is needed now is a positive vote for the name change by the A&M system Board of Regents. That happens, we are East Texas A&M.
- This rights a wrong. In 1996 when East Texas State University joined the A&M system, the students and alums were given a vote by then President Jerry Morris on two names, Texas A&M-Commerce, and East Texas A&M University. The vote was overwhelmingly for East Texas A&M, but the powers that be in the administration office overruled the popular choice and renamed the school Texas A&M-Commerce. This has never been a popular decision and for years, even back when I was a kid with no desire to go to school in Commerce, I heard from my Dad and my Uncle about their distaste for the new name. This was something 30 years in the making. Never too late to do the right thing.
- Give credit where credit is due. I know some people who love kissing up to the President were giving him credit for this. Now, he threw his support behind it and we appreciate it and he deserves credit for that, but this name change comes from the alumni and current students who said; “If we are going to change the name, it needs to be East Texas A&M University. It was an organic grassroots movement started by people, thousands of whom have degrees from East Texas State and by many alums who wish they did, and by students who wish to in the future. Most of the credit goes to the almost 10,000 alums, current students, and future students who yelled in one voice, “DON’T DALLAS MY COMMERCE” and “HAIL ET.” This one is because WE ALL FOUGHT for it, and we have a President who could read the writing on the wall that this is what was wanted and went to bat for us, and for that, I give him credit for that and am thankful He is going to go to bat for us. He listened to us and now is going try to seal the deal in about a month.
- This name change will be great for alumni relations. Many people still wear their ET gear to games that I see, and I guarantee you that you will see people start giving to the school again. It is our identity. This will help us fill up those endowment coffers. Like I said, a great step in the right direction. Many Old ET alums who felt alienated by the name change in 1996 will feel like they are back home with this name change. This bridges our current with our storied past.
- Changing to East Texas A&M will be great for our athletic and marketing brands. When we play on ESPN or any another major channel when we play big name DI schools, people will look up East Texas A&M University, and they will see “small town outside of Dallas, 12,000 or so, this is interesting.” East Texas A&M Lions sounds amazing.
- Identity. I have said this before and I will say it again. To this East Texas boy who was raised behind the pine curtain, Commerce the town is not what most consider to be East Texas, but San Marcos is not what anyone considers to be Southwest Texas State. Commerce might not be what I call East Texas, but it is close enough. Close enough for the DFW kids to drive the hour or hour and a half to get a good education and close enough for the Tyler/Longview kids (like Me) to drive the 1 1/2-2 hours to go to school to a place that welcomes them instead of tells them that East Texas isn’t good enough. The mixture of students at ETSU/TAMUC has always been a diverse set of DFW city kids and East Texas natives, and the small Northeast Texas towns in between. Now that our alma mater also has a worldwide student population that represents all 7 continents, it makes sense that this is now our identity. As I said, Commerce may not be East Texas, but it is close enough, and it had the East Texas name before any of us, and will have it long after any of us are gone.
- Traditions-Sam Rayburn. The Victory Bell. The Mane Event. The Harvey Martin Classic. Fill The Fieldhouse. The ET Mile. Rush Week. BSM Free Lunch Mondays. Kappa Delta Midnight Munchies. Kappa Alpha Airband. Pi Kappa Alpha Crawfish Boil. Gee Lake. Tailgating on Saturday afternoons. Arthur James # 30 Jersey. King Pride. Hail ET. Part of what makes college fun is all the traditions. It is time to make East Texas A&M the place to be once again.
The Lion Wire 
Hey Brian,
Another great article as always. I love reading the Lions Wire! That being said, I wanted to let you know as someone in on the know and on the inside, that you leaking the story about the Chancellor and The President wanting to change the name was 100% the truth and necessary. You have no idea how you sounding the alarm to the fellow Lions out there stopped a total train wreck. There had been a name change in the works for many months, over a year. I have no idea who leaked the information to you, but I am so glad they did, because if that had not been done, we would be Texas A&M University-Dallas, and essentially be done as a University. John Sharpe is a bully and Rudin is a total pushover. It is true, there is virtually very little TAMUC gear left at Wal-Mart in Commerce and Greenville, and also the Fieldhouse Floor was intentionally left out because they were assuming the change of name was coming. You used the word “clandestine” in your podcast not too long ago. That is how this stuff starts and is done.
I will start with John Sharpe. Sharpe is a bully and a classless clown. I have never seen a man so out of touch and got where he was drinking buddies with Rick Perry in college. The A&M system needs a true academic as a chancellor, and even though I am not a huge fan of Greg Abbott, I believe with him being a UT graduate he will appoint someone far more qualified.
As far as Comrade Rudin, my gracious, I have never seen a man so out of touch and in a place that does not fit him. You have said that we have an activist for a President, and we do. I do not know if you are aware, but before Sharpe stuck us with him, he had applied at six, that is right….SIX different schools to be Presidents, none of them impressive schools and they all turned him down. He also has applied at LSU-Shreveport and years ago was a candidate at Arkansas-Little Rock for Chancellor. I cannot believe people actually are propping this man up. He comes across as a nice enough man, but he is not a good president nor a leader. He was brought here to do Sharpe’s bidding. As a fellow alum, I agree we need to demand the absolute the best in everything we do. Remember best in class? The athletic department mantra? We were headed that way until this guy showed up. I also agree 100% about the absolute travesty of renaming of the lake and library and also the move to DI athletics. I doubt we win a national championship in any sport anytime soon, and by soon I mean maybe by the time we are all old men and women. We need a new president stat, and the perennial ass kissers that want to be near Rudin because they are close to power ought to be ashamed of themselves for selling out their alma mater for Rudin’s scraps. I am disgusted with my fellow alums, as few as they are. We should be demanding his resignation, not cozying up to him.
Let me say this as clearly as I can. We are looking at becoming East Texas A&M because Rudin saw this whole name change blow up in his face and he is now he wanting to appear that this name change is his idea when really it is a way to cover his ass and minimize the damage his attempt to change the school to Texas A&M-Dallas caused his tenure here. He does not love the East Texas name and I am sure would rather be somewhere else, and truth be told most of us wish he was. You reference Tarleton’s President, I know of whom you speak. Look at them and look at us. They are now ahead of us and are beating us in major college rankings up and down the line. Truly disheartening.
I agree, we need to clean house from the top down with Administration, Alumni Relations, Alumni Board Members, Foundation Board Members, and start with people who think like you and pulled off a minor miracle. If you had not stood up and rallied the troops, we would be Texas A&M Dallas, but because you stood up and decided you would go at it with or without help, you inspired many alums, professors, staff, and even current students to fight, and now we are looking at East Texas A&M University. This is YOUR legacy, Mr. Pate, and do we ever appreciate it! Once again, thank you from an Old ET Lion who cannot reveal their identity because I do teach from time to time and could be easily found…..but what the heck….Hail ET!