Texas State celebrates anniversary of Higher Education Act signing
SAN MARCOS –The 40-year anniversary of President Lyndon Johnson’s signing of the Higher Education Act at Texas State University-San Marcos will be celebrated on campus with a full slate of activities Nov. 1-8.
Johnson signed the Higher Education Act of 1965 on the Texas State campus, opening the doors to many students who had thought college opportunities to be out of reach.
On Tuesday, Nov. 1 the Common Experience program at Texas State presents a lecture by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Nick Kotz, author of Judgment Day: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr. and the laws that Changed America, at 7 p.m. in the Alkek Library Teaching Theatre.
On Monday, Nov. 7, a special exhibit focusing on the signing of the Higher Education Act of 1965 opens in The Gaillardia Gallery, located on the second floor of the LBJ Student Center, across from the Information Desk, between the university Bookstore and the set of doors leading into the Atrium. The exhibit will remain on display through November 11.
The Philosophy Dialogue Series will also present that day Recollections of LBJ’s Signing of the Higher Education Act at Texas State by some who were there when the act was signed. The discussion will be at 1 p.m. in the Philosophy Dialogue Room, Psychology Building Room 132.
On Tuesday, Nov. 8, the 40th anniversary of the signing will be observed with a 10 a.m. ceremony in the LBJ Student Center, Room 3-14.1, featuring a welcome by Texas State President Denise Trauth and a panel discussion including Raymund Paredes, Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board commissioner, Thomas Wolanin, Institute for Higher Education Policy senior associate, and James M. Montoya, vice president for higher education assessment services and regions with The College Board.
At 2 p.m., Arnold Mitchem, president of the Council for Opportunity in Education, will give a free public lecture on the Higher Education Act in the LBJ Student Center teaching theatre, as a part of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Distinguished Lecture Series. Immediately following the lecture, a plaque will be unveiled, marking the location where President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the Higher Education Act on November 8, 1965. The site is near the current Music Building.