VICTOR JOECKS: UNLV copies Harvard on antisemitism

In the Nevada System of Higher Education, antisemitic behavior will get you in less hot water than challenging woke ideology.

Last month, professor Asaf Peer, an Israeli from Bar Ilan University, came to UNLV to give a physics lecture. After about 15 minutes, protesters entered the room. One screamed at him, preventing him from giving his presentation. Her counterparts held anti-Israel signs, including one that accused Peer of supporting genocide. Regent Byron Brooks said the disrupters were students with a “pro-Hamas” group.

In consultation with campus police, UNLV staff ended the lecture. For safety’s sake, the police escorted Peer off campus.

Even though it received scant news coverage, this is a scandal. Students reciting terrorist talking points shut down the speech of an Israeli professor. Right here in Las Vegas.

Jolie Brislin, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League Nevada, called on UNLV to “denounce this disruption and hate speech.” Brislin also sent a letter to UNLV President Keith Whitfield.

In his response, Whitfield didn’t even offer a tepid condemnation of the pro-Hamas group. Instead, he said he was reviewing “the event to help determine how we can better handle such situations in the future.” He continued, “We must be consistent in our approach to free speech and academic freedom, while also understanding the boundaries of protected speech.”

In response to my questions, a UNLV spokesman said the university is reviewing the incident to see if any student behavior rose “to the level of misconduct.”

The Nevada System of Higher Education offered a similarly apathetic response. “We work closely with all of our institutions on balancing free speech and academic freedom,” a statement from the NSHE said.

What garbage. After the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel, Jewish students at UNLV have been the targets of abuse. Brooks has a video showing a group at UNLV waving the Palestinian flag, chanting, “There is only one solution. Intifada, revolution.” Those involved appear to be students. At a campus Involvement Fair, the UNLV chapter of Nevadans for Palestinian Liberation had a booth with a sign proclaiming, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

Both UNLV and NSHE refused to respond when asked if calling for the genocide of Jews violated any institutional policies. Their silence is reminiscent of disgraced former Harvard President Claudine Gay.

This behavior would be abhorrent enough if the Nevada System of Higher Education had a record of supporting free speech. It doesn’t.

On March 1, Regent Patrick Boylan asked athletic officials, “Do we have any men masquerading as women playing in any of our teams and hurting any of the women?”

Good question. But noting that men are not women drew the ire of higher education officials. Regent Chair Amy Carvalho and Vice Chair Jeffrey Downs issued a passive-aggressive statement condemning Boylan. Their hollow call for “diversity” and “open dialogue” is actually a cudgel to silence anyone who disagrees with them.

The Nevada Faculty Alliance called for Boylan to resign. So university professors want someone to lose his job for embracing biological reality. I asked the group if it made a similar statement about antisemites shutting down Peer’s lecture. It didn’t provide one.

Doug Unger, president of the UNLV chapter of NFA, did say he asked the administration about the incident and he supported disciplining any students involved. But Unger and NFA refused to answer most of my questions, including, “What is a woman?”

This disparity in response is emblematic of where things stand in higher education. Open, obvious and bold antisemitism leads administrators to babble on about free speech. But those free speech “principles” evaporate when someone mentions biological reality.

Contact Victor Joecks at vjoecks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4698. Follow @victorjoecks on X.