The Honorary Degrees and Building Names Committee declined naming the Academic Commons Building after history professor Larry Nelson, despite a petition signed by 1,107 students and faculty members last semester.

According to the Committee report, “In discussing the request, the committee necessarily had to consider the broader precedent that would be established by naming a building for an individual still actively employed at UNA. The committee was unanimous in its conclusion that there are moments in time (such as retirement or as a memorial) when some form of recognition is appropriate and should be considered, but that such a time is not upon us in this instance. The request, therefore, is respectfully declined.”

Nelson has worked at UNA as a professor for 29 years and was diagnosed with a grade-IV brain cancer last spring.

He said he was both appreciative and humble about the petition.

“I’m actually a bit embarrassed, aren’t you supposed to drop half a mil and be deceased?” Nelson said.

SGA will not challenge the committee’s decision as the Honorary Degrees and Building Names Committee has the final word.

“We do not wish to challenge the committee and we have ways of recognizing Dr. Nelson in other ways,” said SGA President Laura Giles. “As SGA members see fit, we will initiate other ways of honoring him for his service and ensuring he is still remembered on this campus even after his retirement in the future. He has touched many lives during his time at UNA, just as many other faculty members have, and that will never be forgotten by these people. It is just not possible for his honor to extend on campus in this manner.”

Some students, like Matthew Jones and Will McAllister, have differing opinions on the Committee’s verdict.

“I definitely understand the decision to not name the building after Dr. Nelson, said UNA student and SGA member Matthew Jones. “Even though the building will not be named after one of the greatest men I have ever met, Dr. Nelson doesn’t need a building named after him to continue to make an impact on the students’ lives.”

McAllister still believes there is no other professor or individual more deserving than Nelson, he said.

“As someone with an undergraduate in history who will soon graduate with a masters of arts in education with history as my content area, I have taken many history classes,” he said.  “And while I have had many outstanding professors; no professor, or human being for that matter, has ever gone out of his or her way to stop a student that he recognizes on campus, remember all the things going on in that student’s life, and genuinely ask what he can do to help the student the way Dr. Nelson has done.  Nor have I met a professor as optimistic about the University of North Alabama, or as praiseworthy of UNA’s administration.”

Jones said he believes Nelson’s contributions to the school will continue to touch the student body even if a building is not named after him.

“It was an honor to get to know Dr. Nelson in my class freshman year as well as outside of the classroom,” Jones said. “His legacy will continue to live on through the university even though the building will not have his name on it.”

Despite his rigorous treatments, Nelson has continued teaching history this semester. Nelson does not plan to retire anytime soon, he said.

Since his diagnosis and return to school, the administration has been accommodating and helpful, Nelson said.

“They carved out a little office for me catty corner on the third floor so I don’t have to come all the way over here (Willingham) and go through all those stairs. Even football players and cheerleaders complain about those stairs,” he said.

His wife Verlie Nelson said he does it all for the students.

“He loves the students here,” she said. “This is why he is still teaching — it is his mission to help the students at UNA be successful.”