The university regents' chief of staff threatened to “man speak” to a female regent who wanted to comment during a public meeting Friday.
Dean Gould, who is special counsel and chief of staff to the board, tried to silence Regent Lisa Levine prior to a vote on changes to campus sexual harassment policies.
“I'm going to ask you to please mute yourself,” Gould said. “I don't want to man speak but I will have to if you continue to child speak, so please stop.”
Levine was voicing opposition to a measure that would make Nevada rules comply with new U.S. Department of Education regulations that raise the burden of proof needed to successfully argue harassment.
"Violence against women and girls is still a major problem in the United States and that absolutely includes sexual violence on college campuses," Levine told KNPR's State of Nevada, "I wanted to make sure that my colleagues on the Board of Regents understood the severity of what they were voting on."
Levine said she wanted them to understand the consequences of what they were passing and what the changes to the policy mean.
"I don't think they did, even though I tried to tell them that they were very harmful and dangerous," she said, "And they also shut down all of the public comment from students and faculty and survivors and victims of sexual violence across the state who were advocating strongly, passionately to make their voices heard so that regents wouldn't do that."
The Board of Regents voted 10-3 to approve the new regulations, which go into effect on Friday. Those arguing for the changes say the state could lose millions in federal funding if they didn't make the changes.
Supporters of the changes say they will make it harder to falsely accuse somebody of sexual harassment or violence.
Levine disagrees with that interpretation. She said the new policy will create more barriers for people to report discrimination and violence, including being required to prove the abuse or harassment was "severe, pervasive and objectively offensive." It also removes protections for people studying outside of the United States.
She said the last change is "unbelievable" and creates more reasons for people not to report.
"Now, they're going to have to endure a live hearing, similar to a criminal trial, even including cross-examination," she said, "So, it is just absolutely shameful."
Gould issued a statement that said Levine was “disrupting the defined procedural process” during an attempt to take a roll call vote, the Associated Press reported. “At that time, I became frustrated at her lack of decorum. In retrospect, I should not have stooped to her level of acrimony.”
Calls to him over the weekend went unreturned.
Levine believes Gould was more concerned about what she was saying, which she said hadn't been presented.
She said the facts he was presenting seemed "to be a bit misleading."
"There was no information about what colleges and universities across the country were participating in litigation that the ACLU brought against the Department of Education because these policies are so dangerous," she said.
She said there was no information on when federal funding would be jeopardized and whether NSHE could seek an injunction on losing the funding if it joined a lawsuit.
Levine said there wasn't information on why NSHE hadn't already joined a lawsuit challenging the changes. She said the agency has participated in other lawsuits to protect students.
That lawsuit is going to be her focus going forward - not the dispute with Gould, she said.
"Whatever he has to say or people at NSHE want to play on the defense, that's their choice," she said, "I'm defending victims of sexual violence and sexual harassment, sex crimes and protecting survivors' voice and that's what I'm going to keep working on."
Gould's scolding of Levine drew rebukes from Gov. Steve Sisolak, Attorney General Aaron Ford, and many on social media, where the moment went viral.
Levine said she was "overwhelmed" by support from women and men across the state.
"It, really, I think... sheds light, not just on the behavior that was illustrated in that video clip that went viral but how women and people who are of underserved populations are mistreated regularly," she said, "I think that we have a lot of work to do to make sure that people aren't discriminated against based on their age, gender or race."
She said the bigger question she has is if there are policies and procedures in place to protect employees at NSHE if the treatment she received was not unique to her.
"I was in a position of privilege being a regent during that meeting and it was video streamed," Levine said, "What about all those who may work under him, behind the scenes and those are the women that I want to protect."
Sisolak appointed her to the board after the sudden death earlier this year of Regent Sam Lieberman. Levine, a slot machine company executive and former longtime staff member for Rep. Dina Titus, is not running for election to the Las Vegas-area seat.
Levine said her experience in the private sector and with Rep. Titus has helped spot some of the problems within NSHE. She said she has noticed inefficiencies, organizational structure issues, mismanagement problems and areas where funding could be funneled into the classroom - not administrative costs.
"That's the kind of work that I want to bring," she said, "We're facing a pandemic right now. People are struggling financially. There is a lot of anxiety in the world and at people's kitchen tables and that's what I want to focus on."
Lisa Levine, university regent, represents Southern Nevada