Description
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The 332-acre (134 ha) campus is about 1.6 mi (2.6 km) east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes the Shadow Lane Campus, just east of the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada, which houses both School of Medicine and School of Dental Medicine. UNLV's law school, the William S. Boyd School of Law, is the only law school in the state.
In 1968, UNLV (named Nevada Southern University then) adopted the southern "Rebel" athletics moniker and a mascot dressed in a southern Confederate uniform named Beauregard. The popular reasoning behind such a controversial moniker and mascot is that they did it to oppose the northern Union traditions and symbols of their northern rival, the University of Nevada. Soon, protests from NSU/UNLV students forced a slight change to their Confederate mascot, but the "Rebels" moniker remains to this day.
In the face of this racist mascot, "UNLV has reached the top of U.S. News & World Report’s annual listing of the nation’s most diverse universities for undergraduates." - UNLV, Sept 12, 2017
The Scarlet and Gray Free Press is the student newspaper on campus. It covers many topics about higher education in UNLV and the state. Recently, the newspaper's name was changed from Rebel Yell to its current iteration, as the former title was criticized for its reference to Confederate culture.
UNLV supports varsity teams in 16 different sports. The men's basketball team is referred to as the Runnin' Rebels and the men's baseball team is referred to as the Hustlin' Rebels.
The school's official colors of scarlet and gray can be traced to 1958, when UNLV adopted as mascot a wolf wearing a Confederate uniform. Scarlet and gray were traditional colors of the Confederacy with its gray uniforms and red-based flag. UNLV's mascot is Hey Reb!, the toned-down version of the original mascot named Beauregard, which was a wolf character dressed in Confederate hat and uniform. UNLV's Hey Reb mascot made his debut in 1983. He received his first makeover in 1997 and second in 2009. Named one of 12 All-American Mascots, he competed for the title of 2004 Capital One Mascot of the Year and made a strong showing by coming in second in online voting. No stranger to national television, Hey Reb has also appeared in two memorable ESPN SportsCenter commercials.
This story is relayed to incoming Freshman during Freshman orientation...
UNLV's mascot is based on the University's split from their literal Northern rival, University of Nevada (Reno) and not on any direct reference to the actual Confederacy. As UNLV was once a Southern campus of the University of Nevada (Reno) when it became its own university, UNLV was seen as literally the South splitting from the North. UNLV had been seen as the little brother to UNR for quite some time even though Las Vegas has always been the more densely populated city of the two. Thus, the University of Nevada (Reno) Wolf mascot was dressed as a confederate soldier in UNLV colors and made the UNLV mascot as a Rebel to the UNR Wolf Pack which became the main rival of UNLV. The original basketball center court with the wolf mascot is still at the center of campus today.
UNLV offers more than 350 bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in varying fields, which are taught by 850 faculty members.
UNLV has over 350 student organizations. To become official, the organization must become recognized by UNLV's Involvement Center.
Notable Alumni
- Chris Cox, Grammy Award nominated record producer and DJ
- Tabitha and Napoleon D'umo, Emmy Award-winning choreographers
- Guy Fieri, chef, restaurateur, and Food Network star
- Ginger Fish, band member of Marilyn Manson
- Ryan Higa, YouTube personality
- Jimmy Kimmel, actor, comedian and late-night talk show host of Jimmy Kimmel Live!
- Suge Knight, entrepreneur and CEO of Death Row Records, also played football at UNLV
- Tomi Lahren, American conservative political commentator and former host of the show "Tomi" for TheBlaze
- Kenny Mayne, ESPN sports journalist
- Irene Bustamante Adams, former Nevada State Assemblywoman
- Nelson Araujo, former Nevada State Assemblyman
- Bob Beers, former Las Vegas City Councilman, former Nevada State Senator and former Nevada State Assemblyman
- Shelley Berkley, former U.S. Representative[126]
- James Bilbray, former U.S. Representative
- Nicole Cannizzaro, Nevada State Senator
- Zach Conine, Nevada State Treasurer
- John Ensign, former U.S. Senator and former U.S. Representative[127]
- Edgar Flores, Nevada State Assemblyman
- Lucy Flores, former Nevada State Assemblywoman
- Jason Frierson, Nevada State Assemblyman
- Chris Giunchigliani, former Vice Chair of the Clark County Commission and former Nevada State Assemblywoman
- Carolyn Goodman, Mayor of Las Vegas
- Gregory Hafen II, Nevada State Assemblyman
- Scott Hammond, Nevada State Senator and former Nevada State Assemblyman
- Mark Hutchison, former Lieutenant Governor of Nevada and former Nevada State Senato
- Sandra Jauregui, Nevada State Assemblywoman
- Ruben Kihuen, former U.S. Representative, former Nevada State Senator and former Nevada State Assemblyman
- Joe Lombardo, Sheriff of Clark County
- Marilyn Dondero Loop, Nevada State Senator and former Nevada State Assemblywoman
- James Ohrenschall, Nevada State Senator and former Nevada State Assemblyman
- David Parks, Nevada State Senator and former Nevada State Assemblyman
- Keith Pickard, Nevada State Senator
- David Roger, former Clark County District Attorney[128]
- Steve Sisolak, Governor of Nevada and former Chair of the Clark County Commission
- Kim Wallin, former Nevada State Controller
- Joyce Woodhouse, Nevada State Senator
- Bill Young, former Sheriff of Clark County