History of the University of Texas at Arlington (1965–present)

Focused on recruiting minority students and employees and aggressively marketing the university, Amacher and his administration polarized the campus before his sudden resignation in March 1995 amid charges that he showed budgetary favoritism to athletics and spent too much on non-essentials at the expense of academic programs.

[3] Historian Gerald Saxon wrote that the transition included a new ASC requirement that incoming students have an "aptitude for doing college work", measured by SAT scores and high-school class rank.

[4] Maxwell Scarlett was the first African-American graduate in ASC history in 1966, receiving a bachelor's degree in biology after transferring from North Texas State University.

[26] Harrison began organizing UTA's graduate program in 1965, and was familiar with the university, the system, and the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex by the time he was named acting president two years later.

[40] Harrison resigned in 1972 to become president of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and Wendell Nedderman was named his successor at UTA.

[45] The 1970s saw an expansion of UTA's curriculum and services, including joint doctoral programs with the University of Texas Health Center in Dallas and UTD in biomedical engineering, the humanities, and mathematical sciences.

[66] History professor Alusine Jalloh established the Africa Program in 1994, which provides opportunities for study abroad, outreach projects, and guest lecturers (including Desmond Tutu).

Faculty and students objected to a ceremony they saw as "long, impersonal, and inconvenient", in part because it was held at the Tarrant County Convention Center in Fort Worth instead of on the UTA campus.

Supporters of the Amacher administration highlighted its success in increasing UTA's visibility, diversifying its faculty and student body, and strengthening ties with alumni and the local community.

[71] Rebecca Sherman wrote "Fast Times at UTA" a January 1995 Dallas Observer article critical of the Amacher administration which ended with a quote from a former dean that the campus resembled a wagon "going down the street with all the wheels coming off it".

[72][73] Sherman's article, combined with similar stories in The Shorthorn and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, convinced UT System chancellor William H. Cunningham to audit UTA's finances and management.

[74] On March 6, Amacher abruptly announced his resignation in the face of charges that he showed budgetary favoritism to athletics and spent too much on non-essentials at the expense of academic programs.

[1][76][77] Chancellor Cunningham knew Witt well, and selected him largely due to his administrative experience, calm demeanor (in contrast to Amacher), and his status as an outsider "untainted by the controversies" at UTA.

[78] Witt received broad authority to assemble his administrative team, with the principal goal of restoring tranquility on campus and reconciling the pro- and anti-Amacher camps.

[79] He faced challenges from the beginning of his administration which included racial tension, involving campus stakeholders in decision-making, repairing UTA's reputation, transparency with the press, and establishing stronger ties with alumni and the community.

[99][100] In March 2001, state representative Kenn George proposed a bill which would have merged UTA with UTD and the UT Southwestern Medical Center and created a flagship university in North Texas.

[102] A similar bill, proposed by state senator Chris Harris and supported by Witt, endeavored to increase funding for non-flagship universities and would have benefited UTA.

[119] The UTA Undergraduate Assembly passed a resolution in September of that year to increase admission standards,[120] which was approved by the Board of Regents in November to help recruit students.

[208] UTA established a Blaze Forward program in March 2022, which will begin paying tuition and fees for full-time undergraduates who are Texas residents and have a family income of $85,000 or less starting in fall 2022.

[218] The plan considered the new library and Texas Hall as the campus' main axis and recommended developing its southern edge, where it bordered Mitchell Street, into a "beauty spot".

[220] UTA, Texas and the city of Arlington collaborated to lower Cooper Street and build pedestrian bridges in November 1990, after wheelchair athlete Andrew David Beck was struck and killed crossing the road in January 1989.

Co-sponsored by its Institute of Urban Studies and Dallas radio station KZEW, the fair had live music and 85 booths which distributed information about art, education, and social-service organizations.

[273] In 1985, UTA's practice of occasionally screening X-rated films on campus resulted in controversy when Baptist Student Union president Greg Sullivan protested the showing of Emmanuelle 2 and Story of O.

[275] The policy was criticized as "an arbitrary kind of standard" by the Fort Worth chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and, according to a Shorthorn poll, was opposed by 87 percent of the student body.

[287] President Karbarhari said that the decision was made because of "cases of hazing, sexual assault, extreme intoxication, and other inappropriate behaviors connected to some members of our Greek Community".

[302][303] ASC had additionally named rooms in its student center after Confederate leaders such as Robert E. Lee and J. E. B. Stuart, while homecoming was observed as "Old South Week" and included mock slave auctions.

Subsequent activism included the burning of Confederate flags by protestors and an unsuccessful attempt by a group of African American students to enter the press box at a UTA football game in an effort to address the crowd.

While "Mavericks" officially became the new nickname and mascot of UTA on June 4, 1971, many supporters of the Rebel theme had hard feelings about the whole experience, some of whom remained opposed to the change and Harrison's actions decades later.

[329] After gaining approval from the UT System Board of Regents to lease the arena,[330] College Park Center became the new home of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)'s Dallas Wings after the team relocated from Tulsa in 2016.

[376][377][378] Founded by UTA alumnus Jim Hayes as the Freewheelers in 1976, the team joined the National Wheelchair Basketball Association in 1988 and changed its name to the Movin' Mavs.