History of the SUB
The Student Union Building first opened its doors on March 10, 1953!
The following is an exerpt from the paper " The Beginning of Student Unions in American Higher Education with Special Emphasis on the Student Union Building at Texas Tech University" by Autumn Arthur, Cate Goodwill, Farha Habeeb, and Sonia Moore. Used with permission.
The Student Union Building at Texas Tech University
In a 1928 Faculty Committee meeting Allen, then an English professor, was recorded as mentioning that a student union building would highly benefit the students. Dean Allen recounted in an interview years later that he did not remember making that suggestion, but he played a major role in the establishment of the first Student Union Building at Texas Tech University (Allen, 1983).
Early Contributions
It is unclear when the initial Student Union Building Fund was established, but several senior classes between 1930 and 1952 donated money in the form of cash or war bonds to the fund (Andrews, 1956). A 1946 Tech Tips quotes that there was $3,750 in War Bonds set aside for the "post-war construction of a Student Union Building" (Andrews, 1956, p. 11). The booklet also mentioned plans for the Student Union Building including meeting rooms, places to eat, the campus bookstore, ballrooms, an auditorium, and places to mingle and relax (Andrews, 1956). The Association of Women Students published Tech Tips each year for many years and both the 1946-47 edition and the 1947-48 editions both mentioned the building fund and encouraged all students to donate (Tech Tips, 1946; 1947).
Recreation Hall
During World War II, Texas Tech allowed several military barrack-type buildings to
be set up on campus by the government for Texas Tech's ROTC program. In 1947, the
government offered Texas Tech the opportunity to take over the buildings and Allen,
then Dean of Student Life, requested two buildings be purchased and used as a sort
of student center. Dean Allen knew that it would take some work to combine the two
buildings together so he contacted 25 of his closest Lubbock friends and asked for
a $1,000 donation from each. In Cindy Martin's interview with Dean Allen in 1983,
the retired dean recalled using the discarded wood flooring from Doak Hall as the
dance floor in the new building. Dean Allen also said that when a dust storm blew
through town, there was a layer of dirt on everything inside the Recreation Hall.
Similar things happened when it rained; the roof leaked! Ruth Horn Andrews (1956)
reported that Dunlap's Department Store in Lubbock was not only one of Dean Allen's
$1,000 donors, but it also agreed to sell the furnishings for the building at wholesale
cost. With a little creative spending and generous Lubbock residents, the Recreation
Hall was opened in 1947 (Andrews, 1956).
The Recreation Hall was used daily by students. In the beginning there was a local
retailer selling food on one end of the building but as Dean Allen recalled, it was
too expensive for the students. The 1953 La Ventana called this area the Green Room
and said it was the meeting place for all coffee drinkers. The University also sponsored
weekend dances and picture shows for students. Students played bridge, ping-pong
or other table games in between classes (Goodyear, 1953). A chorale was started for
students who enjoyed singing and they held regular concerts in the Recreation Hall.
Dean Allen recounted that at the time there was not a lot of safe hangouts for students
near the campus, so the Recreation Hall provided a good place for playing games or
relaxing after class. He also stated that this was the reason he continued to advocate
for a permanent student center (Allen, 1983).
Planning the Tech Student Union
Before the Recreation Hall opened, students used the bookstore as a hangout and a
place to grab lunch or snacks at the bookstore's lunch counter. Soon after the Recreation
Hall opened, the bookstore was quiet. Manager Conner Cole decided to put the $150,000
from the bookstore's "general fund" towards the Student Union Building Fund. When
presented with the idea, President D.M. Wiggins and Dean Allen enthusiastically approved.
The College Infirmary also decided to make the sizable donation of $100,000 to the
cause from a surplus in their accounts and the Ex-Students Association agreed to raise
$25,000 (Andrews, 1956).
On October 15, 1949, the Board of Directors instructed the Building Committee to "proceed
with plans for the construction of a Student Union Building at a cost not to exceed
$500,000" (Board of Directors, 1949). In December of that same year, the Board of
Directors approved a bid from Blyth and Company in Chicago for the purchase of $250,000
in bonds. The profits from the sale of the bonds would be added to the Student Union
Building Fund (Board of Directors, 1949). The Board approved the plans for the proposed
Student Union Building on January 28, 1950 and hired Atcheson and Atkinson of Lubbock,
both Texas Tech graduates, as the architects for the proposed building (Board of Directors,
1950 & Andrews, 1956, p. 259). Bond sales, revenue from campus concession sales and
the donations from the bookstore, infirmary, and ex-student association were added
together to form the $500,000 needed to construct the Student Union Building. Texas
Tech University was proud that current and former students and campus departments
raised all but $50,000 of the money for the building construction (Andrews, 1956).
Student Union Fee
In case the pledged revenues were ever insufficient, the Board of Directors also approved a student fee of four dollars to be imposed upon each Texas Tech University student for the use and availability of the building (Board of Directors, 1950). In May of 1953, the Board was allowed by the government to impose the Student Union Fee of five dollars as a regular fee "for the operation, maintenance, and improvement of the building" (Andrews, 1956, p. 260). The fee was charged each semester (Teeing Off, 1955). Dean Allen explained that the students were in favor of the fee because they were happy about the Student Union Building and wanted to help make it better. Several Teeing Off at Texas Tech editions explained the fee, its uses, and purposes, to new students and their parents (1955; 1962).
The New Student Union Building
Texas Tech called upon Butts, a "pioneer in the field of student union design and
construction" (Vanzant, 1993, p. 1), to help plan the building structure and features.
A swimming pool and bowling alley were two ideas recommended by Butts, but with a
hefty price tag, both were cut from the plans (Vanzant, 1993). On October 31, 1952,
the cornerstone was laid for the Student Union Building and the two-story plus basement
building was opened to students on March 10, 1953. The building design kept with
the Spanish Renaissance exterior of the other campus buildings and offered a ballroom,
meeting rooms, campus organization headquarters, a game room, lounges, and food service.
Approximately 1,500 people attended the open house on April 12 (Andrews, 1956).
Students used the building constantly and soon a Student Union Council comprised of
five executive staff members, eight committees, and 250 student volunteers was created
to coordinate all of the activities and programs in the Student Union Building. Some
of the events offered were concerts, movie showings, dances, bridge and other game
tournaments, lectures, art exhibits, and a Tuesday night Quarterback Club reviewed
the videos of athletic games of the previous weekend (Andrews, 1956; Teeing Off, 1955;
& Harrison, 1954). The Student Union Council provided an opportunity for students
to "develop leadership qualities, social maturity, cultural background and personal
character" (Sanders & Woody, 1962, p.35). The December 1955 edition of Teeing Off
at Texas Tech listed the Student Union Building as providing services such as check
cashing, poster making, food catering, campus information, ticket sales, and a lost
and found department. The Student Union Building offered "the student body as a whole
a complete schedule of events with valuable out-of-classroom information and education"
(Sanders and Woody, 1962, p.35). The Student Union Building held a Regional Unions
Conference in 1955 with schools from five states in attendance (Hudson, 1950). The
Texas Tech Student Union Building has long been a member of Association of College
Unions International (ACUI) and National Association for Campus Activities (NACA).
Through the Council and the subsequent programming boards that followed, the Student
Union Building at Texas Tech became the community center, or living room, of the campus.
Name Changes
While the official name was Student Union Building, students and campus publications called the building "Tech Union" up until the name changed to University Center in the 1970s, when it became "the UC" by all the union constituents. Dean Allen commented on the 1970s name change by commenting that at that time "union" had other meanings that did not represent what the building was used for and therefore the building was renamed University Center (Allen, 1983). No matter what the name on the outside of the building was, the popular phrase around campus was "I'll meet you at the Union!" (Teeing Off, 1955).
End of the Recreation Hall.
After the opening of the Student Union Building in 1953, the Recreation Hall became home to the Campus Club, an organization of faculty and staff (Andrews, 1956). With the expansion of the Student Union Building to include a Faculty Club, the Board of Directors approved the removal of the Recreation Hall in August of 1962 (Index, 1962).
Additions, Remodeling, and Reflections
Dean Allen remembered that administrators and students alike soon realized the new
building was too small. In 1955, up to 4,500 people passed through the Student Union
Building on any given day (Teeing Off, 1955). Plans quickly went into action for
an addition and the university again consulted Butts for ideas. Dean Allen also reported
that his office staff held student focus groups to get suggestions of what the students
would like to see added onto the Student Union Building. The one million dollar annex
was opened to students in the spring of 1962, including more office space, meeting
rooms, and an expanded cafeteria with modern kitchen facilities (Sanders and Woody,
1962). The August 1962 edition of Teeing Off at Texas Tech quoted that 6,000 people
entered the building on a peak day.
The Student Union Building was expanded again in 1977 and renamed University Center
(UC). The UC had been enlarged so much that it joined the back of the music building.
The addition included a courtyard area for lounges or informal receptions and Center
Theatre, which, according to Dean Allen, served as a perfect alternative to the Municipal
Auditorium. The Municipal Auditorium was continuously booked and there was no other
high-capacity theater like it in Lubbock. The Center Theatre was renamed Allen Theatre
in 1985 in honor of Dean Allen ("Allen Theatre"). The theatre was and still is used
year-round by various campus departments and student organizations. Due to the continued
growth of the campus population, the University Center was enlarged again in 2006
with a third floor and expanded basement area and was renamed Student Union Building.
Dean Allen expressed that the Student Union Building had always and should always
have the same personality of Texas Tech and West Texas: open, friendly, out-going
and hospitable. He strongly believed that students needed to have a well-rounded
development. The programs and services of the Student Union Building were part of
that development because the union was an "auxiliary educational source" (Allen, 1983).
When asked how he felt about the building and its' programs' progress since 1928,
Allen said that when he looked out at the Student Union Building he always felt "a
sense of fulfillment" and then jokingly, everything may not have happened if someone
had not reminded him of his suggestion made in 1928 (Allen, 1983).
Student Union & Activities
-
Address
2625 15th Street, Box 42031, Lubbock, Texas 79409 -
Phone
806.742.3636 | Activities: 806.742.4708 -
Email
studentunion@ttu.edu