131 colleges and universities in 1943, which gave students a path to a Navy commission. He was also an enthusiastic support of eugenics and believed in the inherent inferiority of Mexicans and African-Americans in regards to literacy and genetics. He advised the leadership of the A&M system to consolidate the white-only schools, else they would "descend into decadence". Dean Davis appointed Ernest H. Hereford, then Registrar in 1942, to the position of associate dean in 1943. Following Davis's retirement in 1946, Hereford was appointed dean of NTAC. In 1948, the Texas A&M System was created and Dean Hereford was named the first president of NTAC. The name was changed to Arlington State College (ASC) in 1949 to reflect the fact that agriculture was no longer an important part of the curriculum. Efforts began to turn ASC into a four-year institution, but the Texas A&M system board refused to consider the idea since it was possible that ASC could grow to be larger than College Station. The growth of the city of Arlington in the 1950s led to a major expansion of ASC. The student population increased from 1,322 in 1952 to 6,528 in 1959, which led to land acquisition and construction of many buildings. Jack Woolf was named president in 1959 as serious efforts began to make ASC a four-year college. The Texas legislature approved the four-year status on April 27, 1959. ASC's racial segregation would come to an end in the summer of 1962 due to NAACP member and Dallas lawyer Fred Finch, Jr threatening litigation on behalf of his clients Ernest Hooper, Jerry Hanes, and Leaston Chase III. President Woolf and Chancellor of the A&M System Harrington would announce the desegregation of ASC on July 11 of that year, and the following fall semester being the first ever to have black students be enrolled. Enrollment reached 9,116 students in the fall of 1963, a larger total than the Texas A&M College Station campus. Although Texas A&M proposed a reorganization for the system to recognize ASC's growth, A&M System President James Earl Rudder resisted developing ASC into a university with graduate programs. Rudder and the Texas A&M board of directors, viewing ASC as a threat to the College Station campus, withheld construction funding and blocked degree development. University of Texas System (1965–present) The decision by the Texas A&M University governing board to block development at Arlington State College led