Editorial: Honoring Maude Frazier

Monday, Nov. 26, 2007 | 7:13 a.m.

Is it disrespectful to the memory of Maude Frazier to support tearing down the first building erected on the UNLV campus - the building that bears her name?

Opinions among people who knew her and among people who have read about her are divided.

Frazier, a pioneering educator who later in life became Nevada's first female lieutenant governor, was unquestionably one of this state's greatest citizens. Preserving her memory has become a responsibility of all generations since her time.

She came to Nevada in 1906 from Wisconsin at age 25 and prevailed over hardship and deprivation for the next 15 years while she taught school in communities and mining camps throughout the state.

At age 40 she moved to Las Vegas and revolutionized the educational system here and in surrounding counties. Next to her abilities as a teacher, principal and superintendent, her determination is most remembered by historians.

That quality led her, as a member of the Nevada Assembly after retiring from her education career, to persuade the Legislature to approve money for Southern Nevada's first college, which would later become UNLV.

She was as effective at home as she was in the Assembly, co-heading a fundraising drive that raised $135,000 for the new college - the Legislature had required that at least $100,000 of the total funding come from private sources.

Fifty-one years ago, Frazier turned over the first shovelful of dirt for the college's first building. That building, completed in 1957, is today Maude Frazier Hall.

However, the one-story building is cramped and in dire need of at least $15 million worth of renovations. It also occupies prime space just off Maryland Parkway, where UNLV officials want to build an inviting gateway to the campus.

Our view is that Frazier would be more honored by a beautified campus - symbolic of what her dream has become - than by a 50-year-old building that no longer serves the university in any practical sense.

We strongly believe, however, that Frazier's name must always have a place of high honor at UNLV. We'd like to see the university invite public comment as to what form that honor should take.

Possibilities include a statue or other type of monument or, as university officials are considering, naming the new gateway after her. Whatever course is decided on, Frazier's memory must be prominently preserved for all time.