The Victoria College, 1925-2000: A Tradition of Excellence

College, reflecting the politically conservative
attitude possessed by the majority of the community,
refused to accept any federal financial
assistance. When the college was given the
opportunity for student loans, Moore took the
position that they were not needed since the
educational institution had funds available for
short term loans and local jobs were available
without using federal monies. 33
The college finally acquired its first Xerox
machine in the fall of 1967, and it was greatly
welcomed by the students. The Jolly Roger
noted with glee that the machine was capable of
copying two pages at a time from a book.
Instructors were permitted to use the copier for
class material at no charge, otherwise they paid
the normal ten cents per page. A major benefit
the college derived from the machine was the
reduction in the number of books and magazines
mutilated by students to secure information
for classroom assignments. 34
An additional ten acres of land was purchased
from the Brownson Estate in December
1968 at a cost of $6,500 per acre. Although the
board recognized that the land was “not needed
for any immediate development,” the members
maintained “that it is better to purchase the
property now than to wait until it becomes difficult
to add acreage to the campus.” The ten
acre tract was located east of the college along
Red River Street. 35
W. R. “Dede” Matthews of Matthews and
Associates from Bryan, architects and engineers,
in the employ of the college presented the first
master plan for the campus. Included among the
proposals were the construction of a new health
and physical education building and a technical
building by 1970. Matthews further recommended
that the college build new library and fine arts
buildings by 1975. The architect also suggested
that the current Library Building be used for
administrative offices, that the Science and
Administration buildings be renovated, and that
a new classroom building be constructed. The
master plan called for placing the main entrance
to the college on Ben Jordan, and locating the
library northeast of the old Library Building, “giving
it somewhat of a central position on the campus.”
Total cost for the new buildings and renovation
of the existing ones was projected to be a
little over 2.7 million dollars. 36
Sensitive to faculty demands that employment
and the exercise of academic freedom be protected
from administrations and boards who possessed
contrary viewpoints, the Coordinating
Board issued an order that all public colleges and
universities in the state adopt policies on academic
freedom, tenure, and responsibility. When
the edict was explained to the board members,
the ever self-confident Moore remarked “there’s
not a thing in here I’m afraid of.” 37
A committee comprised of Stormont, as
chairman, Wilma Felger, Carl DuBose, Chad
Whitmore, and Robert W. Shook was chosen by
the faculty to study faculty compensation and
✯
Marie Frankson, librarian,
demonstrates how to use the new
Xerox machine to Bill Moody.
Turmoil and Consistency ✦ 119