AUSTIN, TEXAS -- Legislation authorizing a study on the feasibility of an upper-division campus of the Texas A&M University System in southern Dallas County passed on the Senate floor today.

The resolution, sponsored by State Senator Royce West, directs the creation of a commission to conduct a $200,000 feasibility study that would determine if the southernmost sector of Dallas County, which has surpassed the two million population threshold, is in need of an upper-level institution in the region.

There is tremendous support for the concept including documented support from the Texas A&M University System, the Oak Cliff Chamber of Commerce, the Best Southwest Chamber of Commerce, area residents, and the mayors of Cedar Hill, Dallas, DeSoto, Duncanville and Lancaster.

"Southern Dallas County is experiencing rapid growth and although economic and residential opportunities are surfacing, the region is grossly non-represented in the area of state supported, upper-level higher education," said Senator West.

If the resolution passes the House, it could establish the first public university ever located in southern Dallas County.

"There is no state supported school south of the Trinity River. "There are state schools in Richardson and Arlington and they are fine schools. "We have excellent private colleges in Oak Cliff and Southern Dallas County that serve very unique students and yet, the residents of Dallas and the southern cities in Dallas County still deserve their fair share of tax dollars when it comes to higher education institutions," added West.

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