7 Chapter III
Transformation
Islanders Play Volleyball (Circa 1970) Special Collections and Archives, Mary and Jeff Bell Library, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
Texas A&I University-Corpus Christi
On June 10, 1971, Texas Governor Preston Smith (1912-2003) signed a bill establishing Texas A&I University-Corpus Christi.[i] The signing took place in the newly restored library on Ward Island. This building had sustained considerable damage as many of the glass panels had been broken and over 10,000 volumes of the collection were exposed to water during Hurricane Celia.[ii] Less than a year later, the library and the university would be starting anew. The new A&I name and organizational control would become effective in the fall of 1973. In many ways, Hurricane Celia set in motion the events that led to the signing of this legislation to transform UCC into a sister university of Texas A&I University-Kingsville and Texas A&I University at Laredo which was being operated as a university center under A&I-Kingsville.
House Bill 275 and Senate Bill 131 were both filed during the 1971 legislative session to establish an upper-level university in Corpus Christi. Under the agreement, the BGCT would continue to provide funding for UCC during a transition period. Corpus Christi voters approved a $1.5 million bond package to pay off UCC’s debt and purchase the campus from the BGCT.[iii] Additionally, private donations totaling $1.8 million were raised in support of a public institution.[iv] These efforts to ensure that the university was positioned to succeed would set the tone for a close relationship between the community and its new public university.
Texas A&I (Kingsville) had initially opposed any plan for a public institution of higher education in Corpus Christi, as A&I contended it would create competition. Kingsville argued they were capable of serving the area’s needs and that the proximity of Corpus Christi to Kingsville (approximately 40 miles) meant that a state-supported university there would be a duplication of services and thus a waste of state resources. Texas A&I became supportive of, or at least stopped opposing, the plan after it was determined that the public university at Corpus Christi would join with A&I in a university system.[v]
Several important actions were taken in preparation for Texas A&I University-Corpus Christi. In April 1972, the Coordinating Board created an Office of the Chancellor to oversee the three A&I campuses. While the post was not immediately filled, the A&I Board of Regents, instructed the President of A&I-Kingsville, James C. Jernigan (1914-1996), to provide oversight to the incoming administration at A&I-Corpus Christi. He would be named Chancellor in 1973.[vi]
Dr. Jernigan earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from North Texas State College (University of North Texas), and a doctorate from the University of Chicago. Jernigan held several positions at Kingsville including Director of Student Personnel an