University of Nevada at Anti-Semitism

[Order Michael Finch’s new book, A Time to Stand: HERE. Prof. Jason Hill calls it “an aesthetic and political tour de force.”]

The Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department is investigating the University of Nevada Las Vegas “to determine whether the University has denied equal treatment of individuals based on race or national origin, in violation of Title IV and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”

Last year Jewish student Corey Gerwaski filed a federal lawsuit charging that pro-Palestinian groups on UNLV’s campus were violating federal anti-terrorism laws and operating as a de facto “propaganda wing” for Hamas by calling for “resistance” and an end to “Israeli-occupation of Gaza” during campus protests.

After the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, Gerwaski’s suit charges, he was unjustly terminated from his position in the UNLV library and faced anti-Semitism while serving as chair of the Scholarships and Grants Committee. According to the lawsuit, pro-Palestinian groups spread false rumors that Gerwaski was racist and homophobic, and the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) ignored anti-Semitism on the UNLV campus.

Last May, Obama judge Andrew Gordon dismissed the charges against Students for Justice in Palestine and Americans for Justice in Palestine. Gordon also dismissed claims against UNLV and NSHE, but an amendment filed in June charged that UNLV violated Gerwaski’s civil rights. Enter Harmeet Dhillon, Assistant Attorney General in the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division.

“This Department of Justice is fiercely committed to holding institutions of higher learning accountable and ensuring that every student receives equal access to the opportunity and education to which they are legally entitled,” said Dhillon in a September 30 statement.

The investigation will examine whether UNLV, a recipient of federal financial assistance, has “engaged in discriminatory practices based on race, color, or national origin against its students.”

Institutions of higher education governed by Title IV and Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, “must protect students’ unfettered access to the school’s educational environment and opportunities, free from discrimination.” The investigation will “focus on the University’s response to anti-Semitism on campus.”

In April 2023, Nevada governor Joe Lombardo proclaimed, “Antisemitism, including harassing on the basis of actual or perceived Jewish origin, ancestry, identity, affiliation or faith remains a persistent and disturbing problem in contemporary American society.” In addition:

Jewish people continue to be a targeted minority in the United States and data shows that Jews are consistently the most likely of all religious groups to be victimized by incidents of hate, and that such incidents are increasing at an alarming rate. State officials and institutions have a responsibility to protect citizens from acts of hate and bigotry motivated by discriminatory animus, including antisemitism and must be given the tools to do so.

The State of Nevada is committed to fighting Antisemitism in all forms and will continue to work with partners at all levels of government to ensure that every Nevadan feels safe, protected and welcome.

After the 10/7 attack, “it has not been an easy time for me or most of Nevada’s Jewish community,” wrote University of Nevada grad Elliot Malin last year. Hamas, “acted with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, Jews and Israelis, as a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, through acts such as but not limited to the slaughter, rape, and hostage taking of innocent people for who they are.”

Immediately after the attack, Malin recalls, the Jewish community came together to host a vigil in Las Vegas and “Gov. Joe Lombardo was there alongside Sens. Cortez Masto and Rosen and Reps. Titus and Lee,” and other elected leaders.

At this writing Gov. Lombardo’s website offers no statement on the UNLV case and the DOJ response. Nevada attorney general Aaron Ford has yet to make any statement that reporters have been able to find.

On October 1, a day after Harmeet Dhillon’s statement, Ford joined a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice to block new restrictions on federal funding that supports survivors of domestic violence and other violent crimes. The lawsuit came after the DOJ blocked public funds “to provide legal services to undocumented immigrants.” Nothing from the Nevada AG on anti-Semitism at UNLV, and also surging next door in California.

UC Berkeley rejected Israeli sociologist Yael Nativ, who had previously taught at the campus, because “many of our grad students are angry.” Those would be the pro-Hamas mob on campus, and their supporters on the faculty.

For the most part, California Democrats have ignored anti-Semitism at UCLA, the University of California at San Francisco and UC Davis, which hosted the so-called “Popular University of Palestine” (PULP). In some of the most affluent parts of the state, anti-Semitism is surging in California high-schools.  That has not been a priority for state attorney general Rob Bonta and Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The coiffed one is busy promoting Proposition 50, slated for the November 4 ballot, which takes redistricting from an independent citizens commission and gives it to legislators. CAIR “supports Proposition 50 because it protects our community’s voice and access to services in the near term.” As Trump likes to say, we’ll have to see what happens.