DOJ Launches Title IV and Title VI Investigation into University of Nevada Las Vegas

Today, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division launched an investigation into the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) to determine whether UNLV 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. The investigation will focus on the University’s response to antisemitism on campus.

“Publicly-funded universities are barred from discriminating based on race, national origin, or religion,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’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.”

The compliance review 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.

Last April, the federal government revoked the visas of four international students enrolled at UNLV as part of a nationwide effort to revoke the visas of individuals involved in activities deemed contrary to U.S. foreign policy interests. The revocations largely centered around students engaged in pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses. At the time, Secretary of State Marco Rubio reported that over 300 student visas have been rescinded, stating, “Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visa.”

Last year, an observant jewish student at UNLV filed a federal lawsuit against the university and a variety of student groups alleging that the “longstanding, unchecked spread of antisemitism” had caused him pain and suffering after physical violence against Jewish students and on-campus displays of hatred and harassment plagued the University following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel.

The student groups named in the lawsuit as “proxies for foreign terrorist organizations” include the AJP Educational Foundation, Inc. a/k/a American Muslims for Palestine, Students for Justice in Palestine- UNLV, National Students for Justice in Palestine, and Nevadans for Palestinian Liberation.

In 2024, UNLV campus police were summoned after Palestinian activists silenced a Jewish lecturer invited to speak on black holes and physics. Campus police cited the First Amendment as cause to not remove the activists, even though the protestors violated school policy. Palestinian protestors at UNLV also chose Passover as a day to call for the genocide of Jews.

Yesterday, the DOJ Civil Rights Division urged the Department of Education to investigate the University of Nevada, Reno’s UndocuPack office that provides “assistance to illegal aliens “with on-campus and community resource referrals, financial aid and academic support.”

The DOJ referenced the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 that prohibits illegal aliens from obtaining most taxpayer-funded benefits, so that “aliens within the Nation’s borders [do] not depend on public resources to meet their needs.”