UNLV task force to boost Jewish inclusion, student safety on campus
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — It has been 5 months since UNLV created its Jewish Identify and Inclusion Taskforce.
The goal is to work with UNLV faculty, students, and other community organizations to collect data and develop education programs to improve understanding and expand on Jewish presence on campus while providing a safe space for students.
Chief Diversity Officer Jose Melendrez calls it a critical need.
'You saw what happened at Columbia University, UCLA, and all these institutions where it got physical. Here, yeah, there's been some exchange of words and some public component of students engaging with each other and other folks, but we've been able to maintain the peace,' Melendrez stated. 'There's been no physical violence on this campus.'
UNLV recently joined Hillel International's Campus Climate Initiative as part of its ongoing commitment to diversity. According to Hillel International, there are around 500 Jewish undergraduate students at UNLV.
'Right now, it's not only participating in the national initiative with the Hillel Campus Initiative, which is going to give us a lot of good information and feedback on what the climate looks like right now here at UNLV for students and other folks that are involved in this area, but our hope is that we'll be able to look at different policies that impact on campus and different initiatives of work of what we learned for this current cycle,' Melendrez added.
Co-chair of the task force Gregory Brown said that includes important conversations.
'We're bringing in speakers and trying to have dialogues, we had some events in the Fall the diversity office put around, understanding antisemitism like the history and the concept and understanding Zionism and antizionism and providing student support services,' Brown said.
It is all about fostering connections while also cultivating a sense of belonging.
'It also offers this opportunity to do some research about our student body, consultations of a variety of forms with Jewish students and other students, ideally with the community as well to try and figure out what do people think and what do they feel they need. What can we do on campus that they feel isn't being done,' Brown said.
'How can we create environments where Jewish identity is normalized where people feel comfortable, if they don't know then asking and not feeling like it's a hot button issue, where they learn if it's not part of their tradition and culture and also where it contributes to the broad array of cultural interactions.'
The Task Force will report to the university's senior leadership on progress made in the course of the year and at the end of the 2025 academic year to recommend more strategies.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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