Above is the stageful of big shots attending UNLV’s first-ever commencement 59 years ago tomorrow. Not pictured: the 29 actual graduates. Not obvious from this photo: The ceremony apparently “lasted close to an hour and a half.” (Thank goodness there weren’t 30 graduates.)
Before you history nerds write in, let’s stipulate that, yes, this wasn’t actually UNLV in 1964. It was still Nevada Southern, very much a baby sibling to the more established university in Reno — which graduation speaker Grant Sawyer, then the governor, praised as "a leading center of western thought and discussion." (Fortunately the eye-roll emoji didn’t yet exist.) “In fact,” UNLV’s official history tells us, “university officials required students to spend a semester in Reno before graduating.” Nevada Southern would add “University” to its title the following year, but it wasn’t until 1968 that it became a standalone school and began the trajectory toward the community institution we know today.
UNLV’s 2023 commencement took place last month, decorating a few more than the 29 graduates who crossed the stage in 1964. This year it took 41 pages to list them all. I don’t wanna know how long that took.
- Related: What’s up with decorated graduation caps? [City Cast Las Vegas 🎧]
