ETBU is located on the site of the former
Van Zandt Farm at the highest altitude in
Harrison County. ETBU was founded as the College of Marshall in 1912, after a campaign to create a
Southern Baptist college in
East Texas. The campus' first building, Marshall Hall, was completed in 1916. It was designed to house a gymnasium, library, chapel/theatre, administrative offices and classrooms. The College of Marshall opened the following year in 1917 as a two-year
junior college and academy. The college was greatly enlarged during the tenure of President
Frank Shelby Groner who served as president of the college from 1928 until 1942. It became East Texas Baptist College in 1944[6]
In June 2015, J. Blair Blackburn, a native of
Minden,
Louisiana, was inaugurated as the 13th president of East Texas Baptist University. He succeeded Samuel "Dub" Oliver, who instead became in 2014 the president of
Union University in
Jackson,
Tennessee.[7]
In 2015 the university applied for and received an exception to
Title IX allowing it to discriminate against
LGBT students for religious reasons.[8]
During the day, the campus is patrolled by the on-campus security officer. Security cameras record 24 hours a day and are monitored from 8:00 am – 10:00 pm. Call boxes are placed in strategic locations around campus. At night, the campus is monitored by private security officers (off-duty Marshall City Police Officers).[13]
^"Results". Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. 2005. Archived from
the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2010-04-18.
^"Member Lists"(PDF). Texas Board of Nursing. 2003. Archived from
the original(PDF) on 2009-01-06. Retrieved 2009-02-12.