The coming of the comma
In 1967 things were going right for the University of Nevada.
The Reno area was the dominant political force in the state. The university was the center of Nevada’s intellectual world, and its drinking club, the Sundowners, was enjoying a good reputation.
Yet events were in motion that would culminate in the greatest identity crisis the school had ever faced and it all would come down to punctuation.
In 1968, tensions between northern and southern Nevada began to strain, said former history professor James Hulse. Despite Las Vegas’s booming economy and rapidly growing populations, Hulse said southerners resented the north for holding the majority of political power.
According to Hulse’s book “University of Nevada: a Centennial History,” students attending the University of Nevada’s branch campus in Las Vegas, Nevada Southern University, clamored for independence.
Students were upset that Reno held control over their campus and that they had to attend a least a semester up north before they could graduate. They adopted the Rebel as their mascot to exemplify their wish for independence, and the campus newspaper advocated a strike.
In 1968 the Board of Regents bent to the southern pressure and Nevada Southern University became the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. To avoid confusion the regents also tacked on “Reno” to University of Nevada’s name without its consent, said former university President Joe Crowley.
Crowley, who served as president from 1978 to 2001, said there was definite backlash against the name change.
Like an older brother who has to share his room and favorite toys with his younger sibling, the newly named University of Nevada, Reno had to share the state and its revue with an institution almost 80 years its junior demanding equality and respect.
Over the next 50 years this sibling rivalry would play itself out in the arenas of politics, academics, sports and plenty of name-calling.
Arguments about the UNR name change raged for the next two decades, Crowley said. Loyal UNR students and faculty refused to recognize the new label and administration experimented with punctuations ranging from nothing to dots.
By the 1980s, it became customary to use a hyphen when writing the name, said Pat McDonnell, writer and editor for university publications.
The trend shows through today on the stone sign beside the entrance of the university from Ninth Street, he said.
In the late 1980s the university officially changed the name to University of Nevada, comma, Reno as a result of a $200,000 consultation the university did about its national image.
Crowley said there was a huge controversy surrounding the change, not because people didn’t like the comma, but because the press latched onto it as the only result of the study, calling it the $200,000 comma.
David Fenimore, director of undergraduate studies at UNR, said there are other reasons behind the change. He said the comma is a more traditional and elegant form of punctuation, but the hyphen implies UNR is a branch campus instead of the main institution. McDonnell said the alumni supported the switch to return it to its former glory.
As for the rivalry today, Fenimore said he feels the animosity has died down between the two schools and now boils down to harmless fun with a few individuals getting out of hand and hospitalizing each other every once and a while.
“The rivalry is like a big play,” Fenimore said. “Half the actors are in red, half in blue. Then we give them swords and let them fight.”
Fenimore said from time to time the administration has pushed the university to call UNR just Nevada, but they never gained traction.
The administration hoped the university style guide would repair some of the damage done in 1968 by asking faculty to refer to UNR as the “University of Nevada, Reno” on the first reference and “Nevada” on the second. McDonnell said it has made some headway when ESPN started calling UNR “Nevada” in 2004’s March Madness.
Alumni Michael Pennington, a third generation alumni who graduated in 1995, said he still refers to UNR as Nevada, along with most of his fraternity brothers. He said at tailgate parties he still jokingly calls UNLV “Nevada South.”
“I do from time to time say University of Nevada,” said Pennington, public and policy director for the Reno Sparks Chamber of Commerce. “I tend to use that with the (Nevada) legislatures and see if they catch me.”
Pennington said when southern senators catch him using University of Nevada, they laugh but are quick to correct him.
Alumni Erin Lankowsky, Associated Students of the University of Nevada president 2004 to 2005, said when he goes to Las Vegas, they call UNR “Reno.” He said it’s traditional for the first university in the state to take on the name of the state.
“Its definitely a slap in the face when they take that Nevada away,” Lankowsky said.
He said some regents might be glad to replace the Nevada with UNR, but along with a little jealousy, it’s also a playful jab.
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September 25th, 2007 at 8:54 am
just like Nebraska and Texas, we should be known nationally for athletics as Nevada…not Nevada-Reno. The University of Nebraska, Lincoln…is known as Nebraska for athletics. The University of Nebraska, Omaha is known as Nebraska-Omaha. The University of Texas, Austin is known as Texas. The University of Texas, El Paso is known as UTEP. The University of California Berkeley is known as “Cal” or California. The University of California Los Angeles is UCLA. Anyone see the parallel? NEVADA not UNR