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Message from the Pres i dent
Interdependence
Keeps Us Together
In working with community organizations,
schools, and other universities, we often hear
someone say, just as a new initiative is about
to be born: “But if we do this, we give up our
independence!”
We Americans are taught to cherish
“independence” as a necessary condition for
life. Our founding document was a declaration of
independence, and our leaders return to and invoke
those hallowed assertions in times of joy and of crisis.
Dangerous, counterproductive, and destructive
is the fantasy that “independence,” properly enjoyed,
conveys autonomy. The same thirteen colonies
which declared themselves independent of England’s
King slowly came to understand interdependence as
necessary for nationhood. The states may imagine
unique identities and even modes of living, but they
are never autonomous. Franklin’s warning to his fellow
revolutionaries extends to all sectors of public life:
“We hang together, or we hang separately.”
Texas A&M International University exists
because the people of Laredo and South Texas
hung together. To erect this magnificent campus
and develop these excellent programs in just 20
years demanded massive and relentless effort for the
common good. The University is ours and the State’s,
to serve our immediate needs and to realize statewide
visions for a better Texas. Interdependence lifts us to
a new plane.
“Cities and counties throughout
Texas have long collaborated to
create, with universities, venues for
recreation and sports.”
Dr. Ray Keck, III
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