On a crisp Saturday morning in October, a standingroom- only crowd spilled out of the lecture hall at Richard Tam Alumni Center to listen as prominent thinkers debated the hottest of hot topics-the current clash between Islam and the West.
Conservative commentator and best-selling author Dinesh D'Souza offered his views on what he called "the root of the division between American-Western ideals and the Islamic world." After tracing the struggle to the decline in the 16th century of major Islamic empires and the concurrent ascendance of Western civilization, D'Souza argued that "we're looking at a somewhat humiliated civilization trying to find a way through theology-the banner of Islam-to recover its lost glory."
Controversial? You bet. But controversy is part and parcel of a university environment that encourages diverse views and free expression. D'Souza, whose presentation was sponsored by the Boyd Law School's Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution, is just one of many human lightning rods to spark electrifying debate at UNLV in recent years. Through institutes such as the Saltman Center and presentations via the Barrick, Greenspun, and University Forum lecture series, among others, a raft of notables has visited the school: former presidents Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, and Gerald Ford; journalists Walter Cronkite, Sam Donaldson, and William F. Buckley Jr.; and scientists Carl Sagan, Jane Goodall, and Richard Leakey.
"Our goal is to bring different personalities and viewpoints to Las Vegas, and to allow members of the community to express their viewpoints through question-and-answer sessions," says Larry Henley, who helps oversee the Barrick Lecture Series. "It really becomes a public forum."
The dialogue that ensues can offer mainstream connections to current issues, and it pushes learning beyond the classroom and into "the real world." The D'Souza lecture, for example, wrapped up with a panel of speakers to counter D'Souza's contentions. Panelist Mujahid Ramadan of Ballard Communications noted that "conflict is not inevitable. Islam certainly has a role to play in peace. (Terrorists) violate every principle of Islam. They are not Muslims. Islam finds a tremendously engaging relationship with Christianity, and for the 1,400 years Islam has existed, we largely have not had the conflict we have today."
For law professor Jean Sternlight, director of the Saltman Center, exposure to diverse experiences doesn't simply foment debate; it can also heal stubborn divisions. Although housed in the Boyd School of Law, the center pulls from a variety of disciplines to study methods for avoiding and resolving conflict. A component of the programs, she says, "involves teaching people that others see the world differently. Once people understand that, it becomes easier to resolve disputes."
Cynthia Carruthers, an associate professor of leisure studies and chair of the university's Committee for an Inclusive and Just University, says seeing the world through the eyes of others is necessary to a quality education. "If we're going to prepare students to be community builders, we need to help them develop an awareness of cultural pluralism," she says. "How do you work with colleagues who are different from you? How do you create community change in partnership with people different from you? It would be incredibly shortsighted to not expose faculty and students to a full understanding of the richness of the world."
Administrators aren't confining diversity and free expression to lectures and seminars. Carruthers points to increasing evidence- requests for Planning Initiative Awards grants to foster diversity and an infusing of multicultural programming within academic units-that respect for a broad range of perspectives is cutting across all levels of the university in subtle ways.
"It seems to be more at the forefront of people's minds than it was even five years ago," she says. "People are using this goal in planning the lives of their units, and we're seeing strong administrative support."
