University of Nevada, Las Vegas: Campus Police Ratify Heckler’s Veto of Israeli Professor’s Physics Lecture

On February 27, 2024, protestors disrupted a University of Nevada, Las Vegas physics department lecture on black holes featuring Bar-Ilan University Professor Asaf Peer. Approximately 15 minutes into the event, protesters entered the venue and began shouting about Peer’s ties to Israel and accused him of supporting genocide. As protestors continued to shout, campus police arrived and told Peer they could not remove the protestors, then administrators ended the event early. On March 13, FIRE wrote UNLV calling on it to make bona fide efforts to address substantial disruptions to expressive events as they occur and to educate campus police, administrators, and students on the distinction between protected protest and disruptive conduct that prevents others from exercising their own freedom of speech. UNLV failed to respond to our letter.