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Alumni organize petition for A&I name change
By Rubi Reyes
The South Texan |
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The past 15 years have brought pain to the alumni of Texas A&I University.
They have had to sit back and watch their university erase any trace of the A&I history and convert over to Texas A&M-Kingsville since the “name change” in 1993.
Some alumni like Rito Silva, 1990 graduate, blame the name change for the decline in enrollment, but Manuel Lujan vice president of enrollment said the decline in enrollment might have been due to new and emerging institutions.
“The name change might have impacted our enrollment, but most of the declines at TAMUK are due to the new institutions in our major feeder counties,” Lujan said explaining there are new universities in Corpus Christi, the Rio Grande Valley and San Antonio.
From fall of 1993 to fall of 1994 there was an enrollment decline of 22 students, but in fall of 1995 there was a decline of 499 students.
“I believe the introduction of a new four-year university in Corpus Christi and other factors impacted the enrollment decline of TAMUK,” Lujan said.
In 1994 Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi became a four-year university. Lujan said TAMUCC gained 393 students from fall of 1994 to fall 1995.
Some alumni do not think the new universities had anything to do with the decline and feel that if the university would have kept the A&I name, enrollment and alumni membership would not have dropped.
“Alumni membership has dropped ever since the name change,” Manuel Saenz, president-elect of the alumni association, said.
Saenz recruits alumni and said that when he asks alumni to join the usual response is: ‘That is not the university I went to everything there has changed starting with the name.’
There has been speculation that the university could change back to A&I, but Texas A&M System chancellor Michael D. McKinney put that idea to rest.
“What uproar?,” McKinney said. “The name is Texas A&M University-Kingsville, and there is not going to be any name change.”
But there is a new website that would beg to differ.
The website texasaandiuniversity.com has an online petition for people who are in favor of the university being named Texas A&I University, a member of the A&M System as it was in the past.
It is a website run by Alumni Ken Harvey for former, current and future students of the university who state on there online petition page the name change is needed to ‘retain a link to our university’s proud past.’