President Keith E. Whitfield delivers the President’s Message during the UNLV Spring Commencement ceremony at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas on Saturday, May 11, 2024. (LE Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
UNLV President Keith Whitfield said in a statement Sunday that UNLV was releasing details of university investments in companies with ties to Israel and denying reports that it was considering divesting from them.
“Towards the end of the spring semester, I met with several groups about the ongoing conflict in Israel and Gaza to hear their concerns and perspectives,” Whitfield said. “Some were critical of my open-door policy, and others were spreading speculation and misinformation in the media and elsewhere.”
“This includes the (false) assertion that UNLV will disclose investments with any ties to Israel or consider divesting from such investments,” he said. “We will not do that. I will not do that either.”
Whitfield also criticized the May 11 commencement speech, after the student who spoke at UNLV’s commencement ceremony that morning changed his speech from one he had submitted before the ceremony.
In the new speech, he described the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza as a “genocide” and included comments that some have called anti-Semitic.
“We understand that words made at the commencement ceremony were upsetting to some of the graduates and attendees, and we want to be clear that the speech does not represent the views of the university,” Whitfield said in a statement.
Whitfield did not mention her by name, but was referring to Yvette Machado Tuigner, a UNLV psychology graduate who caused controversy with a 10-minute speech at the commencement ceremony at the Thomas & Mack Center.
This is a developing story, check back for updates.
Contact Jeff Burbank at jburbank@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0382. Follow Jeff Burbank 2 About X.
