After the October Hamas attacks on Israel, and Israel’s military response, anti-Semitic attacks increased 360 percent nationwide.
In February on the UNLV campus, a visiting Israeli professor, speaking on astrophysics and black holes, was shouted down by protesters. UNLV police said they escorted him off stage for his safety.
But even before that, UNLV history Professor Gregory Brown, along with other faculty and staff, founded the university’s first Jewish Affinity Group. Its aim is to host discussions on Jewish identity and expand UNLV’s Jewish studies.
Brown spoke with State of Nevada's Joe Schoenmann about the formation of the group and his hopes that it will bolster UNLV’s diversity and reach.
“I think it's something that people felt would be valuable and needed for the campus for a long time,” said Brown. “Given the widespread concerns about inclusion and equity for Jewish students and faculty across higher education nationally, it’s a really important thing for us to take up at this time.”
In just a few months, the Jewish Affinity Group has already been active with public discussions about Jewish identity and the prospect of Jewish Studies courses on campus.
Brown, though, hopes the affinity group’s impact will be felt beyond campus.
“I think that the underlying question here is that as we as a campus and as a community move forward … the presence and awareness of the Jewish identity is of great value, not only … to Jewish faculty and staff or students but to the community.”
In response to the incident in February, UNLV President Keith Whitfield issued a statement to 8 News Now that the university is investigating “to help determine how [it] can better handle such situations in the future.”
Guests: Gregory Brown, History Professor, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
