Comma wars
Though University of Nevada, Reno has become the accepted moniker of this fair university, most of its students are unaware of the controversy surrounding the “, Reno” and the venom it still carries.
In the late sixties, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas was a satellite campus of UNR known as Nevada Southern University. Its students weren’t happy about it, former history professor James Hulse said.
Las Vegas was experiencing a booming economy but resented Northern Nevada for holding all of the political power. UNLV students hated that they were required to spend a semester up north to complete their degrees and clamored for revolution. The student newspaper called for a strike and the student body adopted a rebel to embody their wish for freedom.
So at a 1968 Board of Regents meeting, officials gave Vegas its own independent university, complete with the name it’s known as today. To avoid confusion, the board tacked on the “Reno” to UNR’s name.
UNR students and staff were outraged, former UNR President Joe Crowley said. The northern campus was denied the title University of Nevada, although the first college in a state is traditionally granted the state’s name without a city following. The decision was made without UNR officials present or the campus’ consent.
To this day, many alumni refuse to call the school by its official name, instead of calling it by its original title, “University of Nevada.”
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