Beam Hall, site of UNLV shooting, to welcome back students

By Taylor Lane Las Vegas Review-Journal

5 months ago

Security personnel walk into the Frank & Estella Beam Hall which is currently closed to stu ... — Security personnel walk into the Frank & Estella Beam Hall which is currently closed to students as they return for classes following the shooting at UNLV on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024, in Las Vegas. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images

Police tape remains on a tree outside the entrance to the Frank and Estella Beam Hall following the shooting yesterday on the UNLV campus on Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023, in Las Vegas. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

UNLV’s Beam Hall is reopening next month after closing in December following the Dec. 6 shooting inside the building that killed three professors and critically injured another.

University President Keith Whitfield said in a news release that the university has been working to continue safety upgrades and repairs on the building in time for the school year starting Aug. 26, and will reopen the building on Aug. 13.

Building upgrades include new surveillance cameras, repaired doors, new telephones inside classrooms and limiting access to the building’s third, fourth and fifth floors, where the shooting occurred, to those with a proximity card or stairwell key, the president said.

Whitfield said classrooms and other interior spaces in the building have also been repainted, and new banners and signs have been added in the east and west atrium spaces, among other improvements. UNLV has also dedicated $1 million to improve lighting on campus with new light poles and wall-mounted lighting that will continue to be installed throughout the fall semester.

“Each milestone in our Rebel Recovery process is important, but I also understand they can be both difficult and trying for some,” Whitfield said in a statement. “I’m grateful to everyone on campus — and particularly Beam Hall faculty, staff, and students — for your flexibility, patience, and feedback during this process.”

The university’s December 6 Memorial Committee is asking for feedback on a plan to create mural and other artwork outside Beam Hall to honor professors Naoko Takemaru, Patricia Navarro Velez and Cha-Jan “Jerry” Chang, who lost their lives in the shooting. A oral history project is also in development to capture firsthand accounts of the event.

“We’ve made good progress on our road to recovery,” Whitfield said. “But we still have more work to do, and I am committed to doing all that I can to ensure that every member of our university community feels safe, supported and welcome on our campus.”

Contact Taylor Lane at tlane@reviewjournal.com.