Where I Stand — Columnist Brian Greenspun: Graduates blaze trail

Friday, May 14, 2004 | 6:03 a.m.

Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun.

WEEKEND EDITION

May 15 - 16, 2004

On Thursday the Nevada State College graduated its first class. There were 13 graduates. I was honored to give the commencement address. Since a number of those present asked for copies of my remarks, I thought it better to publish my speech so that everyone would know where I stand and, more importantly, where this community and state must stand when it comes to education. The address will be published in two parts: one today and the other on Monday in the Sun.

GOOD MORNING. No, it is not a good morning, it is a great one. It is the dawning of a brand-new era of higher education in Southern Nevada and you graduates -- you baker's dozen of distinction -- are at the vanguard of this new day.

Before I talk about this day, let me take you back to a similar day 40 years ago.

That was the day when Nevada Southern University, later to be renamed UNLV, graduated its first class. Twenty-nine students received their degrees from a brand-new university whose birth was, what shall we say, not the most welcome news in this fledgling gambling town. It isn't that people were against higher education; it is more that they didn't consider it a priority.

My father, Hank Greenspun, wrote that day in his Where I Stand column that "people interested in education are a dedicated breed. And the world needs this kind of dedication, for the greatness of a nation depends upon the average mental power of the nation's citizens, and mental power depends absolutely upon education."

He singled out some of the people who, against almost all odds, fought to make NSU a reality. Their names are synonymous with higher education in Las Vegas. Archie Grant, Maude Frazier, Jim Dickinson, Marge Phillips, R. Guild Gray and Ray Germain. There were others, to be sure, who pushed and shoved a reluctant city and state toward the idea of higher education in this valley, but there weren't that many more.

That's because people had other things on their minds and couldn't fathom the need for a university -- complete with the enormous cost burden on the citizens -- when there were schools out of state that those who wanted to go on to higher education could attend. As for the vast majority of young people who could not afford to go out of state -- not a priority.

That whole mind-set changed -- except for the part about people really wanting to pay for it -- when that first graduating class received its degrees and immediately raised the education level of the entire Las Vegas work force. I can tell you the ensuing 40 years have been but a blink of an eye. Even though the population of this valley has grown from barely 125,000 people to almost 1.6 million; even though that first graduating class of 29 people has grown to a university nearing 30,000 students with 4,000 graduates a year; even though NSU has climbed from obscurity to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, a recognized institution of higher learning and a school that continues to strive for that place near the top of all universities in this part of the country; even though so many people said it couldn't and wouldn't be done -- there it is.

And here we are. And even though it seems like we may be at a place similar to where UNLV was just a generation ago, the Nevada State College is light years ahead. Or should I say enlightened years ahead.

For sure, there have been a fair share of detractors. I admit that I wasn't sure why we needed another institution of higher learning when we couldn't get the widespread commitment to university life from our Legislature that was needed for the one we already had.

But it didn't take long for me to climb aboard once the vital mission was explained.

And it appears that those few individuals, most of whom are here today, who saw the vision clearly and painted the picture for the rest of us so we could get behind the college, will one day be given the credit for making the good fight to give birth to a Nevada State College that is already fulfilling a vital role in this community.

And, especially for the newcomers here today, I dare not go too far in this address without mentioning this beautiful hotel in the middle of this incredible setting at Lake Las Vegas. Just like UNLV, it is easy to take what we have for granted as we stand upon the hard work and dreams of others. Just to give you a sense of appreciation for what has happened here in a relatively short period of time, the idea for Lake Las Vegas belonged to a man named J. Carlton Adair.

Mr. Adair had this vision over 50 years ago. Of course, it was called Lake Adair in all of his plans. When Lake Las Vegas' developers decided that Carlton's 40-year dream could actually be built, they did it right by giving him the credit for helping to make this happen.

For the rest of us, those of us who actually traipsed across the hot desert floor and over the bleached bones of who knows what just to see what Carlton was talking about so many decades ago, this represents another example of impossible dreams reaching reality.

For almost 60 years, Las Vegas has been a constant impossibility proving the probability of the certainty of the human spirit.

You graduates today, 12 women and one man -- and that fact should not be lost on any of us who are old enough to remember when university classes were dominated by men -- represent the next phase of this Las Vegas dream born of necessity.

You are graduates in the field of education, psychology, history, law enforcement and integrated studies. You will enter into a different part of the work force of this great community, a part that desperately needs your talent, your dedication and your service. And, by doing so, you will prove the proponents of this college right and the naysayers -- once again -- wrong.

For if there is anything about the history of Las Vegas that has remained constant since the first day of its new life, which began in the 1940s, it is that there has always been a loud and unfriendly chorus of naysayers who have either been content with the status quo or so invested in our yesterdays that they could not see the future. And, as we all know, the future happens in Las Vegas at a speed much faster than in any other place on this planet.

I know this was not an easy task. I am not talking about the academic challenge, which I am sure was substantial but in most ways no different from that in other similar institutions. No, what I am referring to is the challenge that comes with being the first to do anything. In that regard, you will always be known as the class that took the leap of faith and made it.

It is not easy to risk your time, your resources and your energy on the promise of others. It is doubly hard to take that plunge when the "others" happen to be politicians and accountants who decide things oftentimes based on fiscal availability rather than community need. But you did that and, to a somewhat lesser degree, so did those students who have followed you on this path. In fact, I think it is safe to say -- looking out at the people who have come to witness this graduation ceremony -- that the results are in.

Monday: As the first Nevada State College graduates move into the work force, the community is challenged to continue to make education a priority.

archive