A Partnership Between a Real University and Downtown Brownsville: What Could Have Been

 By Diego Garcia III | Editor of The Brownsville Beacon

Downtown Brownsville is trying to survive. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic wreaking havoc among South Texas and its local businesses, the Downtown area is trying to do all it can to stay afloat during these trying times. There are several watering holes that are doing all they can to serve their clientele despite the restrictions on occupancy. I have even visited a few of these Downtown spots and picked up some rather delicious takeout treats. If you're in the mood for a decent burger or hot dog, I recommend you give The Library at La Rioja a try. Their service is second to none and their food is tasty.

Despite places like the Half Moon Saloon, The Library, and The Palm Lounge, Downtown is looking more ragged than it has in a very long time. Despite the efforts of Mayor Trey Mendez and his partners over at Dodici, and the proprietors of establishments like the Main Street Deli, most of Downtown is still looking like a ghost town.

Even though several business owners are renovating some of the historic Downtown buildings, there are still several downtown spots that are in disrepair and in desperate need of attention. For every new performing arts center there is a hollowed out shell of a burned out saloon; for every old brick renovation there is a building with a crumbling facade that needs some refurbishing.

It isn't the fault of local business owners. It isn't the fault of the public. It isn't even the fault of the local politicians. There is only one reason why Downtown Brownsville is struggling.

I would like you to take a trip back to 2010. The University of Texas System Regents decided to end the partnership between the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College. A few months later, in February of 2011, the Texas Southmost College Board of Trustees voted to separate from UTB. A nasty divorce ensued. Professors were removed from buildings, office space was fought over, mascots were changed, school colors were altered, and in the end, The University of Texas at Brownsville ceased to exist. In 2016, UTB merged with UT Pan American in Edinburg to form the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Mascots were changed once again, school colors were mashed together, and now we have one large Rio Grande Valley university.

But what did it cost Brownsville?

The answer is it cost Brownsville the one legitimate chance it had to inject life into the Downtown area. While it may seem as if merging the universities to form one large super-university was a good idea for everyone involved, the truth is it only really benefited the Edinburg campus. The truth is before UT Brownsville became UT Brownsville, it was a satellite campus of UTPA in Edinburg. UT Brownsville wouldn't exist as an institution until it merged with TSC to create a unique partnership between the junior Texas Southmost College. This is how it worked. Since 1991, you were admitted to, and registered under Texas Southmost College. You took classes for your freshman and sophomore year. When you became a junior, you were then admitted into the University of Texas at Brownsville, and you received your bachelors with the UT System seal. 

UT Brownsville was branded, and marketed, as a "community university." You could live at home and still have a university experience without having to worry about things like dorm rooms, laundry, and eating Ramen noodles. Where campuses like Pan Am offered the full immersive experience of dorm rooms and a home away from home, UT Brownsville made university life an extension of high school — you really didn't graduate in 12th grade, you just went on to 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th grades while still living at home and eating mom's homemade cooking.

While many people see this partnership as a good thing, I always thought this strange "marriage" between UTB and TSC kept Brownsville from being a legitimate university town with a legitimate university. 

UTB could have been so much more than it was. Eventually, the historic Fort Brown Hotel would close down. The rooms would be used as dorm rooms for athletes and eventually an apartment complex on the other side of campus would be designated as student housing, but those ideas were short-lived. Today the old UT Brownsville campus is a shell of what it used to be. Almost every graduate and post-graduate program is spearheaded out of the Edinburg campus. The Brownsville campus once was home to a national champion volleyball team, a baseball team, and a soccer team. All the athletic programs are now based in Edinburg. We are fortunate the chess team is still headquartered on the Brownsville campus — I'm surprised it hasn't been moved to Edinburg.

This same issue affects Downtown Brownsville. If Texas Southmost College had decided to sell its property holdings to the University of Texas at Brownsville, they could have set up all their programs at the ITEC Campus (the old Amigoland Mall). The ITEC is big enough to hold all of the programs TSC offers. At the same time, UT Brownsville could have turned into a legitimate four year university. There are several local students who could have benefited from having a hometown university. UT Brownsville could have also expanded its athletic programs. Instead of recruiting players from Brazil and former Soviet Bloc countries, the athletic programs could have showcased local talent. Instead of offering soccer scholarships to students who come from the former Yugoslavia, it probably wouldn't have been a bad idea to offer some of those soccer scholarships to the students who led Lopez or Porter to state championships.

And it all comes back around to Downtown. If the university would have expanded its programs, it could have expanded its student housing. If it expanded its student housing, it would have encouraged and stimulated the areas around the university to grow, including the Downtown area. Several buildings Downtown have a second, or third, floor. Those second and third floors often times sit unoccupied. They could have easily been converted into apartments or other versions of student housing. The Hotel El Jardin could have been converted into condos or student housing a long time ago rather than it just sitting there on Levee street, rotting away.

I understand this is all hypothetical, and I understand there is no guarantee that any of this would have worked, but if the campus would have been allowed to grow, other programs would have attracted more students. We were promised a medical school a long time before the program up the Valley started. The UT Health System was down here in Brownsville a long time before the medical school class started in Harlingen. If we had a medical school down here, there's absolutely no reason why we couldn't have eventually had a law school. Brownsville is in desperate need of good doctors and lawyers who know the area, not carpetbaggers from other cities whose principal law offices and doctors offices aren't even in town.

Brownsville is a city that never lived up to its potential. Brownsville is a city filled with smart people who just needed to catch a break. That break was a legitimate local four year university.

It seems as if the University of Texas System has turned its back on Brownsville. Maybe it's time to try and attract another university system to come down to Brownsville.

I've always been a fan of maroon and white rather than burnt orange and white, anyway.

Editor's Note: During the upcoming months, we will be exploring this story more in-depth. Look for future projects dealing with the story of The Junior College of the Lower Rio Grande Valley-Texas Southmost College-UT Brownsville-UT RGV.