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Critics beset UNLV bias policy

System chancellor joins questioning of UNLV proposal

A draft of a proposed UNLV policy aimed at preventing bias and hate crimes was declared dead Monday by the university system chancellor after a public outcry.

The policy on "bias incidents and hate crimes" would allow those who feel intimidated by what someone else says to report the incident to the police, who then would be obligated to investigate.


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  • "Bias? How in the hell are you going to define bias?" Chancellor Jim Rogers said.

    Though Rogers does not have the power to kill the policy outright -- that would be up to the elected Board of Regents -- his complaints echo those of others.

    The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada has come out against the policy as drafted, as have several faculty members.

    Nasser Daneshvary, the immediate past president of the faculty senate, said faculty members often have voiced their concern during the writing of the policy over the "bias incident" portion.

    "Finally," he said Monday, "somebody listened."

    University of Nevada, Las Vegas President David Ashley stressed, however, that the policy is and always has been "a work in progress."

    Asked whether there was a chance that offending portions would be rewritten, he said: "There's more than a chance. Having looked at the faculty feedback, there are some serious concerns."

    The policy, set to go into effect July 1, was written in response to a directive from the Board of Regents. The board last summer required all of the state's universities and colleges to adopt hate crimes policies.

    All of the institutions but UNLV already have adopted their own policies.

    A draft of UNLV's policy came to the attention of the ACLU recently when a faculty member contacted the group.

    Allen Lichtenstein, the group's general counsel, flatly declared the policy draft unconstitutional.

    "It tends to treat as illegal speech that is clearly constitutionally protected," he said.

    "It certainly gives the impression that, if someone feels insulted, they should go to the police."

    The policy takes great pains to declare that it is not a "speech code," that it does not criminalize bias and that it does not impinge upon freedom.

    But critics contend that, as written, it is indeed a speech code, that it sics the police on violators and that its provisions would scare people away from speaking honestly and openly.

    In the 1990s, similar controversies were common on the nation's campuses, but they have died down in recent years.

    "They have been routinely struck down by the courts as violations of the First Amendment," Lichtenstein said. "It is a bit surprising to see something like this at this particular time."

    Board of Regents Chairman Michael Wixom said he had not yet seen the policy draft, but he had read about it in the media.

    "I do have concerns over the way this is developing," he said. "We're going to take a close look at the policy."

    Ashley said that he had talked to Rogers on Monday about his concerns and was going to appoint a four-member task force to redraft the policy.

    Ashley said he was committed to finishing the policy soon so that it could be approved by the regents and implemented July 1.

    He said he will accept the offer of help from the ACLU. The university will submit the final version for the group's review, he said.

    The draft of the policy does the following:

    • Encourages the use of an "informal process" to resolve complaints. The process encourages discussion or the reporting of offenses of bias to a supervisor.

    • Encourages formal reporting to UNLV police, who are then obligated to investigate.

    • Says false reporting may be punished.

    It defines bias incidents as verbal, written or physical acts that intimidate, interfere or harass based at least partly on bias against race, ethnicity, color, religion, creed, sex (including a "pregnancy related condition"), sexual orientation, national origin, military status, disability, age, marital status, physical appearance or political affiliation.

    Christine Clark, UNLV's vice president of diversity and inclusion, one of the policy's main authors, did not return a phone message left Monday.

    Contact reporter Richard Lake at rlake@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0307.

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    Locke wrote on April 28, 2009 02:57 PM: "Its meant to protect people from homophobic racist behavior like you too show. You said that white people are been picked on, what garbage, white people always pick on others you jsut dont like it when its turned on you." How is it that you know what color my skin is or what gender I am.
    I favor gay marriage by the way. Think,
    Ape, think. [The reference, by the way,
    does not imply race. It was first used in the 1933 novel "The Apes of God" and refers to fashionable and ignorant intellectuals, not hues and tones of skin color.]


    Joe C wrote on April 28, 2009 02:07 PM: Joe Bama,
    Thanks for the help, you sob, ok you were pretty funny.


    Joe C wrote on April 28, 2009 02:06 PM: To Brenda G,
    Thanks for admitting this program is meant to be biased and anti-white in your own words.
    It goes right to the heart of why this policy is corrupted. Our country has made great changes and the ability to dismiss the changes you are proving.

    As for me married to a woman of Mexican heritage for 19 years, before her engaged to an Asian immigrant and always lived a diversified life at work and my personal life.

    I love it when those like yourself expose your own hatreds and biased view making conclusions with great generalization.

    Human nature is what I’m afraid of and it’s your vindictive human nature that makes me worry about this policy.

    A code to just protect minorities is absolutely wrong but a code of conduct protecting everyone is correct.
    Do you know the difference?


    Joe Bama wrote on April 28, 2009 02:05 PM: Hey Brenda! You forgot neanderthal,you must be typing in a hurry to have forgotten one of the pc nazi buzzwords so i thought i would remind you.


    Brenda G wrote on April 28, 2009 01:50 PM: Joe C and Locke. This is exactly what this bias speeches is meant to protect. Its meant to protect people from homophobic racist behavior like you too show. You said that white people are been picked on, what garbage, white people always pick on others you jsut dont like it when its turned on you. The bias code should only protect minorties from racist bigot homophobes like you. 3 cheers for Chris Clarke she is a hero. UNLV stands for fairness and protection of vunerable groups. Your right wing conservative veiws shouldnt be tolerated


    unlvstudent wrote on April 28, 2009 01:40 PM: Chancellor and NBC owner Jim Rogers is under a serious level of investigation for age and sex discrimination with the government and his television station KVBC Channel 3 regarding his personal bias against women and older workers. He has also in the past had judgements against him/KVBC for racial discrimination. Who is he to speak on any of this? His personal actions of age, sex and racial discrimination should exclude him from any opinion on this matter.


    Joe C wrote on April 28, 2009 01:37 PM:
    As Norman Thomas, six-time U.S. presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America said, “The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But under the name of liberalism they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened.”

    This is the same type of tactic being used now with political correctness as a way to seek revenge against whites.

    By using these types of obviously biased policies minorities and others will be able to make accusations and force their will under the bogus guise of fairness.

    It will reach a point that all complaints made by whites especially white males will be dismissed.

    We end up a minority controlled so-called moral compass allowing discrimination bigoted and racist behavior towards whites.
    All claiming to be a humanitarian effort towards equality.


    locke wrote on April 28, 2009 01:06 PM: "Encourages the use of an "informal process" to resolve complaints. The process encourages discussion or the reporting of offenses of bias to a supervisor." I think this is the
    frightening part of the guidelines.
    Liberals know that in a milieu of their
    own making and control, they do not
    have to criminalize speech. It will be sufficient to warmly forgive someone for what they believe to be criminal, but will settle for prohibited. They merely have to "re-educate" someone who runs afoul of their codes. How magnanimous and broad-minded they will
    seem to themselves and their captive undergradute tyros. This is liberal "soft power". On an informal basis, it has been in effect for some time. Some may remember the poor professor of economics at UNLV who
    used a gay couple as an example of
    a (lack of) marginal propensity to
    save. Not thinking about the well-being
    of offspring, they had a different profile of marginal decision making.
    His comments were entirely correct, but
    highly objectionable to the speech baboons. He was censured. I once asked
    one of the Apes of Speech in the special education department why no one
    among them defended the professor, since they so much in favor of free and
    open speech. Dead Silence.


    smith wrote on April 28, 2009 11:53 AM: Also, "hate crime" policies will be used by the politically-correct thought police to unfairly punish white males. Read 'Hating Whitey' by David Horowitz. Join the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education at http://www.thefire.org/
    and help fight this growing cancer in our schools! It is time to end taxpayer funding exclusively to the "public" (government-controlled) schools!


    smith wrote on April 28, 2009 11:39 AM: Enough is enough! If a thief is burglarizing the homes on your street, should you negotiate with him regarding whether he should also take the copper wiring too? No, you put a stop to the nonsense. Enough of our money being taken from us to be used for such nonsense under the disguise of 'education'. Almost all violent crime is motivated by some type of hate. We shouldn't give special treatment if the type of hate is one of the categories mentioned in the story. UNLV uses a policy of racial preferences (affirmative action) which is a hate crime (certain groups are discriminated against for hiring, promotions...), so let's start by banning this policy.


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