New room named in her honor at UNR

Submitted by Kim Palchikoff

“Sometimes, some battles in life choose you; you don’t choose them,” said Frankie Sue Del Papa, Nevada’s former attorney general from 1991 to 2003.

One of the highlights of the 150th anniversary of the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), was honoring the university’s esteemed former student body president (1970-71), Frankie Sue Del Papa. The Associated Students of the University of Nevada Presidents Conference Room is now named after Del Papa, a UNR alumna who later became a Nevada System of Higher Education regent, Nevada’s first female secretary of state, and a three-term attorney general.

She sat down with me in her kitchen to discuss the many issues she’s faced over the decades as a lifelong Democrat, the challenges female politicians face, and her thoughts on Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign.

Let’s talk about female politicians and, more specifically, Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign. She’s not focusing much on her gender or race. What role did gender play for you as a politician?

I always ran for office because I thought I was the most qualified person to hold that position. I didn’t want to turn it over to someone who cared less or knew less than I did because they hadn’t had the same level of participation in the issues.

I always ran for the office, not against anyone. In fact, you would have to pull my teeth to get me to talk about my opponent. I wanted to talk about my ideas, my experience, my enthusiasm, and what I wanted to accomplish. While I was the first woman in a couple of Nevada’s key political offices, that’s not why I ran, and certainly, my gender didn’t really impact me. I never really tried to capitalize on it. It was just a fact. When you’re running for office, you want to do so because you’re qualified, you want to serve, and you want your ideas to be at the forefront.

You once said that it’s more difficult for female politicians to raise campaign funds and that was something you struggled with. Have things changed since your last election for attorney general in 1999?

I think things have changed, although there are women who are better at raising money than I was. Fundraising was not my forte.

Does a large amount of campaign cash lead to winning races?

I had hoped that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would have broken this ceiling in 2016 because she was an extraordinarily well-qualified candidate. Of course, she did win the popular vote. I am now, as I was then, concerned about the Electoral College.

When you look across the country and see all the women who have served with distinction at every level in our government, in corporate America, internationally—you name it—I think things have changed. I think the big barrier that was broken was the U.S. Supreme Court.

While I think that having women leaders can still be unusual, it’s not out of the ordinary. Nevada has a female majority in the legislature, which is extraordinary. It’s interesting for me to have played a small part in that. But, again, breaking glass ceilings is not why I ran for office. What I would prefer to be remembered by is my record of accomplishments—what I did in office—not my gender.

Why do you think Vice President Harris’ presidential campaign hasn’t focused more on Trump’s criminal record, namely his 34 felonies?

I think Vice President Harris is holding her own. When you look at what she wants to do for America compared to what Trump has threatened to do with Project 2025, there’s no comparison. And when J.D. Vance got into the “childless cat lady syndrome,” that was infuriating to me because I like cats. I feel bad that as a nation we are as divided as we are.

Have we as women made it yet?

Not totally, but I think we’ve come a long way. Do you think a lot of voters are going to look at Kamala’s record and not her gender? I hope they look at her qualifications, because I clearly think she is tremendously qualified.

Some of the actions that former President Trump did and participated in, if they did not outright disqualify him, certainly make him less desirable to be the president.

Take me back to 1971 when you were the student body president at UNR and the Vietnam War was raging. Did you know you wanted to go into politics?

Early on, I found a passion for politics in student government. Participating in any kind of government means trying to solve problems and come up with innovative and creative paths for issues that impact everybody’s life. I was student body president at my junior high school and vice president at my high school. When I got to the university, I certainly did not have any plan or strategy to run for student body president.

I needed to work, and I wanted to work in the library, but all those jobs were taken. The only job available was working in the dining commons for three years. Part of the reason I was elected student body president is because I knew everyone who came through the dining hall.

Early on, I became involved in student government in the ASUN Senate, and then it came time to run for student body president. I won because I was more active in student politics than any of my opponents.

There were Vietnam War protests on the UNR campus, but they weren’t as widespread as what was happening at other campuses nationwide. Certainly, there was activism, and there were a lot of sides represented on all fronts.

There was the environmental movement, the women’s movement, the civil rights movement. It was a great time to be at UNR because it was small enough that you knew a lot of people, yet large enough to have a wonderful variety of classes, teachers, and activities. I feel at home at UNR, as I do in Reno.

Ever since my years as a student, I’ve been really active at UNR. I was privileged to serve a six-year term as a Nevada regent, which in our state is elected. I also taught law and public policy classes for 14 years.

I live a few blocks from the campus, so I walk to the campus often. Everywhere I look, there’s a memory. The university helped shape my life and the lives of so many others. A lot of Nevada’s leaders have graduated from UNR. James Hardesty, the student body president directly ahead of me, wound up as chief justice of our Nevada Supreme Court. The student body president right after me wound up as chancellor of the university system.

What did you like about teaching?

I loved my students. It was a great experience. I tried to teach them everything I know. I’m still in contact with some students. I tend to be one of those people that tries to stay in contact with folks. Not everybody does.

The fun part about teaching is your new crop of students haven’t heard your stories. So, you get to tell your best stories all over again. I brought in a lot of outside speakers. Everything in that class was designed to help students engage in public policy.

Many people don’t know that you are a voracious reader. What are you reading now?

I really like biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs. These books take you back in time, and you also learn about how people live their lives. The book that I’m almost finished with is Empress of the Nile. It’s a biography of a French woman who went to work at the Louvre Museum in Paris when she was 16 and became an Egyptologist. She eventually helped UNESCO with the preservation of their World Heritage Sites, saving famous Egyptian sites.

I just finished reading An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal Story of the 1960s by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin. It was impressive because she worked for President Johnson, as did her husband, and she writes about how they always had a running commentary about Johnson and other presidents, as her husband was a presidential speechwriter. It was a wonderful book and a wonderful snapshot of both the Kennedy and Johnson administrations.

Did you ever have a speechwriter?

Only once, when I spoke at a Democratic convention. I like to write my own speeches. I know what I can deliver. I’ve got a quote for every occasion. I keep quote books all over my house.

Your favorite quote?

It actually comes from my mother, who used to talk about everyone having their own problems to worry about. She’d say that if everybody put their problems on a table, you would walk away with your own problems before you walk away with somebody else’s.