 As the student body shrank in size in the late 1970s and early 1980s, however, it became increasingly diverse as older non-traditional students, minority students, and international students all grew in numbers.Through the African-American Student Society at East Texas (ASSET), the university's African American students advocated their demands for equal treatment in housing, course offerings in African American history and literature, and the employment of African American faculty members.Their efforts ultimately resulted in the first African American faculty member and administrator being hired in 1968 and 1972, respectively.