UTRGV Slaps Brownsville in the Face — Commencement to be held in Edinburg and Harlingen

By Diego Garcia III | editor of The Brownsville Beacon

I graduated from the University of Texas at Brownsville in partnership with Texas Southmost College in the Fall of 2008. Due to life getting in the way, I had to put my college degree on hold in the late 90's.  However, I was very happy the degree on my wall says "Brownsville" on it. The "Texas Southmost College" part never really bothered me, but I could have done without it. I never considered myself a student of Texas "Almost" College, as many locals jokingly referred to it.

The Author's 2008 UTB Class Ring

In 2013, there would be a nasty divorce between the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College. After the dust settled, and both schools went to their corners, school colors changed, mascots changed, buildings were fought over, and two separate entities existed...for two years.

In 2015, a new institution of higher learning was proposed, and eventually created. The University of Texas Pan American and The University of Texas at Brownsville would be combined to form the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. This was a win for the school since it would now have access to the Permanent University Fund and rumors of a medical school finally being brought down to the Valley were starting to swirl around. The Ocelot, who had replaced the Scorpion, now faded into the montes of Brownsville to be replaced by the Vaquero (I had proposed a cavalryman as a mascot and even drew up a concept of it, since UTB was built on the old Fort Brown).  The school colors had unceremoniously be replaced with UT System orange and blue to UT System orange, blue, and green. The UT System said everything would function as usual even as UTB's President, and one of America's most powerful Latina executives, Dr. Julieta Garcia snuck out the back door of her office at Gorgas Hall and into the comfort of her golden parachute lined Mercedes station wagon.

But everything wasn't going to be fine. Guy Bailey, the newly minted president of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley started making changes. Little by little, degree programs started to make their way west to Edinburg. The medical school, despite having built brand new facilities on the Brownsville campus (the Regional Academic Health Center Complex), would be run out of Harlingen. Students were saying they were being told they would have to go to Edinburg to complete their undergraduate studies. Graduate programs were all being filtered to Edinburg. Even though there were construction crews feverishly laying bricks to build more classrooms near the levee, everything seemed to be going to Edinburg. Even the athletic programs would all be run out of Edinburg. It seems Brownsville was beginning to see they were definitely not the better half in the Brownsville/Edinburg parnership.

For years, I've been saying Edinburg always wanted to wrest control from the hands of the Brownsville campus and run everything out of the old Pan Am institution. Even as I received phone calls from the alumni society, and between their pitch to try to get me to donate, they assured me Brownsville wasn't going anywhere. They assured me the Brownsville campus would remain strong.

It seems the tide has turned. According to an article in The Brownsville Herald written by Nubia Reyna, the Brownsville campus will not host a graduation ceremony this semester. If students from Brownsville want to participate, they will have to go to Edinburg. According to Patrick Gonzales, associate vice president for University Marketing & Communications and university spokesman, Miss Reyna writes, "there will not be a commencement ceremony in Brownsville this semester because the Texas Southmost College’s Jacob Brown Auditorium is 'unavailable' and the only other indoor facility in Cameron County that is comparable in size is the new Harlingen Convention Center."

This is definitely a failure on many different levels, although I'm sure the new mayor sees this as a hilarious turn of events. I'm sure as a former trustee of Texas Southmost College he has absolutely no problems with seeing UTRGV fail its tuition-paying student body. I'm sure under his breath, Mayor Mendez uttered a quiet "yes!" as he heard the news. That said, Brownsville is in dire need of a large convention center that could be used for an event this size. I guess the Brownsville Events Center is too small. 

However, that's not what this editorial is about. This is about UTRGV giving a big middle finger to Brownsville. This is one of the poorest areas in the nation. The fact that we have a university here and the fact that there are young adults who will achieve their dream of a college education is a big feather in Brownsville's cap. We don't have to ship off students who otherwise couldn't afford to go to college somewhere else — we can educate them right here in Brownsville.

Now, some of these Brownsvillians aren't going to have a commencement ceremony to go to. That is, in one simple word, unacceptable. Guy Bailey and the UTRGV administration is doing a big disservice to the community by not holding a commencement ceremony here in Brownsville. This is a travesty. This really isn't hyperbole — this is a slap in the face to every student who busted their hump to earn the right to receive their degree from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. 

It seems like Brownsville always ends up getting the short end of the stick. I am sick and tired of Brownsville losing out because people think we just aren't going to care, or because we're powerless to do anything about the situation.

To be quite honest, I think Brownsville should begin talks with the Texas A&M System to see what they can do to bring a Texas A&M campus down to Brownsville. That way, UTRGV can close shop in Brownsville completely and we'll have a university system that would really be interested in investing in our community. A&M was already interested in a training center at the Port of Brownsville. Maybe we can lean on some of the Aggie Alumni to help convince the administration in College Station to come down and take a look at the viability of building a satellite campus here.

The UT System, the UT Regents, and the UTRGV administration have failed Brownsville miserably. Perhaps it is time to review the relationship Brownsville has with the UT System.

Perhaps it is time for change once again.