WTAMU Centennial History

Women in State Police Forces

2009-02-05T20:15:00.002-06:00

Several years ago a colleague at Fairmont State College in West Virginia planted a thought in my head. She suggested that a study should be done to better understand why some states have more female officers in their state-level law enforcement agency(ies). I've decided to set up this blog to provide some insights into how this question can be researched, including the challenges of locating data and operationalizing variables.

One of the first things that needs to be considered is the question of what constitutes a state-level law enforcement agency. The second, and hardly less important, consideration is: What is a female officer?

In terms of data, we'll start with the data collected by the Uniform Crime Reports:

http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2007/data/table_76.html

Thoughts? Questions?

A Mother's Story

2007-02-19T09:12:00.000-06:00

This is a story I often heard my mother tell and I thought it might be of interest to your publication.

She worked at the Panhandle-Plains Museum while attending West Texas State College in the 1930’s. During homecoming one year, Boone McClure, the museum curator, hoped to have 100 visitors through the museum that weekend. He promised my mother and the other student who worked there a special treat if they could get that many to register. The treat he promised was an ice cream cone.

We wonder how many college aged students would view an ice cream cone as an incentive today?

Peggy Martin

Football Versus Texas Tech

2007-02-04T09:00:00.000-06:00

A special memory from growing up in Canyon was watching the WT Buffaloes play, and often beat, the Red Raiders on the football field. The community always supported the team. When the game was held in Lubbock, several train cars would be reserved for the loyal fans to ride to the game.

We would board the train at the Canyon railroad depot. As we passed Ralph Switch, basically a grain elevator, the Kuykendall family who lived there and maintained the elevator would have huge signs hanging outside of their red brick home by the tracks urging the Buffs to victory. We always looked for those signs which became a sign for the passengers to cheer for their team.

During the ride, the WT cheerleaders came into the various cars and lead cheers, getting us ready for the big game ahead. It was always special when they were in our car. We could hear them coming and waited with anticipation for our turn to yell with them.

Sometimes we would buy sandwiches on the train. Other times, Mother would fix our "picnic" meal to carry with us to eat as we rode to Lubbock.

When we got there, the train stopped near the stadium. We walked across the field and then cross the highway as we made our way to the stadium. It was often cold and the wind always was blowing, but that didn't chill any spirits.

After the game, we walked back to the waiting train and returned to Canyon.

Those games were special because the Red Raiders were our arch rivals. The fight song even said, "We will kick, pass, and run 'til those Raiders are done." The whole community loved and supported their beloved Buffaloes.

Linda Lowes Hatchel

President Gerald Ford on the WTSU campus

2006-12-29T11:17:00.001-06:00

With the passing of former President Gerald Ford, it is important to note that the 38th President spoke on the West Texas State University campus. He is the only sitting President to speak on campus. You may recall that he was fighting back a challenge from California Governor Ronald Reagan in the Republican primaries. His comments from April 10, 1976, can be found here:

Remarks and a Question-and-Answer Session at a Public Forum at West Texas State University in Canyon, Texas

Dress Codes and Pinning

2006-07-17T07:56:00.000-05:00

One comment posted below indicates that the dress code during the Spring semester of 1970 required female students to wear dresses or skirts to class. By the following fall semester, pants were allowed.

Why the change in dress code? Was there a committee involved?

I took the opportunity last week to review a copy of the annual from 1966. One of the interesting activities depicted in its pages was a pinning ceremony. I'm curious if anyone participated in a pinning ceremony. How did the pinning eventually turn out? The history of pinning has to be interesting. I wonder when it ended and if it ended at WT at about the same time as at other schools.

Information on Jonnie Rowan

2006-06-26T11:29:00.000-05:00

Jonnie Rowan was one of the first students at West Texas State Teachers College to earn the Master of Arts in 1933. I'm relying on her thesis "A History of the West Texas State Teachers College" for a lot of information on the early days of WT.

I would like to know more about Ms. Rowan. I know she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Texas Christian University. What caused her to earn an MA at WT? Was she a teacher in an area school? Where?

I'm at jrausch@mail.wtamu.edu.

Thanks.

Dr. Owens on the Old Library

2006-06-21T15:27:00.000-05:00

I graduated with my undergraduate degree (BBA) from West Texas State College and my graduate degree (MBA) from West Texas State University a year later. Some of your readers may not remember when the library was in the building now attached to the Panhandle Plains Museum. It was relatively small and, as a graduate student, I had full access to the “stacks” in the library where all of the books were shelved. At that time, you filled out a card and gave it to the librarian who would then get you the book so being able to access the stacks meant you were a superior student. My thesis adviser, Bob Chester, challenged me to read and annotate every book in the library relevant to the study of Business Finance which I managed to accomplish during the 15 months of my MBA work. You cannot imagine how much that experience came to benefit me when I went on to Doctoral work since very few of my fellow students were nearly so widely read because their larger institutions did not permit graduate students to simply prowl the shelves and sit in the aisles reading. I seem to recall a circular metal staircase that took you to the multiple floors and you frequently would sit on one of the steps since the light from the windows was much better than the small overhead bulbs.

I also recall that Prof. John Kahler (photo, right) was newly arrived on campus at that time and was quite the talk. He would wander across campus in this huge great wool topcoat wearing a Russian fur hat that had a miners lamp attached so he could read at night. I never personally witnessed the event, but all the students took it as gospel that he would be engrossed in his reading and periodically walk straight into a tree in the dark at which time the lamp would jiggle about and he would go wandering off in another direction.

The computer center was in the basement of what is now Old Main and the business school was on the second floor. Dr. Callarman was the Dean of the Business School and had a background in office practice which meant that all of us took classes in shorthand and in operating manual calculators. There was an entire room full of the old Monroe calculators and the din was amazing when everyone was working on the machines in class.

I also recall that at the start of the Fall Semester in 1964, one of the students of the cowboy persuasion had the opportunity to apprehend and dispatch a very large rattlesnake from the lawn in front of Old Main. He made a real impression on the female students by displaying the remains in the bed of his pickup for a couple of days.

Dr. James Owens is Professor of Finance and Head of the Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance at West Texas A&M University.

Suzanne Rogers Remembers WT

2006-06-21T15:18:00.000-05:00

In 1950, I entered the fourth grade at what was then called West Texas Elementary - the demonstration school at then West Texas State College. In UIL activities it was called WTE even though the junior high was in the same now moth-balled Education Building. First through fourth grades on first floor, choir, gym and fifth and sixth grades on second floor, and seventh and eighth grade on second floor.

It was a magnificent building - surely there are blueprints and photos of it with its three floors and basement where the cafeteria was where the WT football and basketball teams ate. There was a stage, library and a gymnasium. The floors on the hallway and stairs looked like marble.

After I graduated from Canyon High School, I entered the education and music classes at WTSC. That fall as a member of the choir we sang the Alma Mater as Lyndon Johnson (Senator then) was introduced as the next President of the U.S. (didn't happen at that election), but WT became WTSU then.

I took most of my elementary teaching courses in that building as did so many of the educators are and were Texas Panhandle teachers and administrators. Rex Reeves was one of the principals there before he was at the "new" elementary school later. Dr. Ruth Lowes helped all to learn to be the best teachers.

In the early 50s, R.O.T.C. would march chanting down the street on the north side of the Education Building. (Korean War era).

When I was in primary school, we would swim in a wonderful pool at the Buffalo Courts, and I took a swimming course (WTSU course) there as one of my physical education courses.

I was in the first group of students in 1959 who took music education courses, choir, and piano/organ lessons in the (new at that time) first Fine Arts Building which is scheduled to come down I believe when the new Fine Arts facility is completed.

Suzanne Lemons Rogers (B.S. in '67) is a resident of Amarillo.

WT, Canyon, and Alcoholic Beverages

2006-01-24T15:12:00.000-06:00

With the recent discussion of allowing some restaurants in Canyon to serve alcohol, it is relevant to look back at the role of alcohol in the locating of the West Texas State Normal College in Canyon. A legend has developed suggesting that the school was located in Canyon because the town had no saloons. There is little evidence to support the proposition that the lack of saloons was the reason for the location.

The first source to consult is always Hill's More Than Brick and Mortar. In Footnote 8 on page 17, the historian notes, "On one occasion in the summer of 1914, when removal talk [to Amarillo] was common, President Cousins was heard to say that Amarillo would have had a better chance in the first place if she had not had saloons. On being asked if he didn't know that prohibition would soon make that Panhandle metropolis saloonless he replied: 'Yes, but I didn't know how many college boys might be ruined in the meantime, and my own might be among them.'"

The proposal submitted by Canyon to the locating committee also makes no mention of a lack of saloons. In fact, very few candidate cities made mention of alcohol sales. Tulia addressed it at some length, while Clarendon noted that there were no "Blind Tigers" (unlicensed saloons) in that town. A few of the towns provided specific counts of the number of drunks.

Is there any recorded evidence showing that Canyon was awarded the school because of a lack of saloons?

What's a regional university?

2006-01-03T11:35:00.000-06:00

The recent exchange in the Amarillo newspaper about the appropriate mission of WTAMU raised an issue of WT's role as a "regional university." During the recent visits by the persons seeking to be the next WT president, one or two of the candidate mentioned that WT should be a strong regional university. Back in the early 1960s, during the period when West Texas State College was lobbying to become West Texas State University, President James Cornette argued that WT should become a "regional university."

I should continue with a brief story. Several years ago I applied for a position at Northern Iowa University. My dissertation advisor indicated that he believed NIU to be a "good regional university."

I've searched most of the higher education literature with little success. The only solid reference to "regional university" was the president of Johns Hopkins University arguing in the late 1800s that Johns Hopkins would not become a regional university.

What's a regional university? Please post any thoughts by clicking on comments.

References:
Allen Finegold arguing that WT should not become a university that only serves this region.

Russell Long arguing that WT should serve this region.

Myrna Raffkind arguing that WT benefits the region and donors from the region benefit WT

Description of Canyon in 1909

2005-12-16T11:12:00.000-06:00

After the Texas Legislature approved the establishment of a school named the West Texas State Normal College, a committee was formed to review proposals for a site for the new school. The report of the committee includes summaries of each of the 23 cities and towns that bid for the school. Apparently each city and town tried to outdo the other cities and towns in describing the charm, water supply, and other attributes. Each city and town provided some description of its residents.

Although today the University, Canyon, and the cities of West Texas value diversity, this was not always the case. Canyon's presentation, by L.E. Cowling, included the following description:

"The population, he [Cowling]declared, was of the best; that there were no negroes, Mexicans, foreigners or politicians there; that the people were filled with the red blood of push and energy."

Many of the cities noted the absence of members of minority groups (i.e., Abilene declared itself "100 percent Anglo-Saxon"), but no other city or town noted the lack of politicians. I'm trying to find out more about that strange notation. What did early Canyon residents think about politicians that would require the bid committee to distinctly mention that there were no politicians?

If you have any leads, please mention them in the comments.

Thanks.

Stories about WTSNC, WTSTC, WTSC, WTSU, and/or WTAMU

2005-12-16T11:08:00.000-06:00

Do you have a story about the institution of higher learning located in Canyon, Texas? How about friends and relatives with stories?

While we can't promise that we will use every story we hear, Dr. Kuhlman and I would be interested in hearing from you. Please submit your information as a comment to this posting.

If you have information that may be too long for a comment, please email me at jrausch@mail.wtamu.edu.

Thanks.

Introductory comments

2005-10-15T15:21:00.000-05:00

My hope is that this blog may help gather information about the history of West Texas A&M University. Dr. Marty Kuhlman and I are looking for stories about life at West Texas State Normal College, West Texas State Teachers College, West Texas State College, West Texas State University, and West Texas A&M University.

Marty and I will be irregularly posting stories and things that we have heard in order to help us check facts and get the most complete and accurate picture of this school's history.

You may post in the comments section.

Thank you.

(Photo credit: Communication Services, West Texas A&M University)