History of East Texas State College

Academic developments during this period were also significant, including the establishment of an honors program in 1961, the authorization to grant doctorates in English and education from 1962, and a continued increase in the percentage of ETSC professors holding Ph.D.s (reaching 58% in 1966, compared to roughly 45% in 1957).

Students were still subject to the principle of in loco parentis and its related curfews, dress codes, and strict enforcement of regulations, although they also enjoyed activities ranging from fads and pranks to officially condoned events such as Kappa Delta Pi's spelling bee and an antebellum-themed "Old South Week".

1959 alone also witnessed the lifting of a long-standing ban on national fraternities and sororities and the establishment of the Forum Arts Program that brought "distinguished speakers and cultural attractions" to campus.

[7] In 1959, ETSC built the James G. Gee Library, which cost over $1 million and provided capacity for approximately 200,000 volumes and 60,000 square feet (5,600 m2) of floor space.

[14] In 1964, the college bought approximately 850 acres (340 ha) of ranch land 2 miles (3.2 km) south of campus along Highway 50 that it had previously leased.

[18] On March 30, 1965, Governor John Connally officially renamed the school East Texas State University by signing House Bill 333.

[17][19][20] Against a backdrop of widespread integration and previous refusals of applications from prospective African American students by ETSC and its predecessor East Texas State Teachers College (ETSTC) in the 1950s, by the early 1960s Gee realized that "he could not indefinitely delay the inevitable".

[21] On June 6, 1964, the Board of Regents ordered the desegregation of all state colleges within the system, mandating that they admit "all qualified applicants, regardless of race".

[25] In 1955, "good grooming" was a requirement that consisted, in part, of students exhibiting "no missing buttons, run-down heels, unbrushed clothes, unpolished shoes, neglected nails, or straggling coiffure".

[30] Among the luminaries who came to Commerce due to the Forum Arts Program were then-senator Lyndon B. Johnson, Austrian Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg, writers Pearl S. Buck and Alex Haley, historians Henry Steele Commager and John H. Plumb, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and San Antonio Symphony, the Ballet Folklórico de México, the José Limón Dance Company, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band of New Orleans, and the artist Hal Holbrook.