Congratulations to Elvira Diaz who is one of ten people from around the nation being honored with a Cesar Chavez Champion of Change Award at the White House on Thursday, March 29th! 

Supporters and residents of Nevada can watch the ceremony live at  www.WhiteHouse.gov/live on Thursday at 10:30 a.m. PST. You can also join in the Twitter conversation using  hashtag #WHChamps. 

Elvira Diaz was born in México City, immigrated to the United States in 1986 and became a US citizen in 1992. She has been working for the pharmaceutical industry and involved in the Catholic Church for several years. She has a Spanish TV show “El Pan de Cada Dia” and has been a radio personality in two local radio stations in Reno, Nevada. She also writes a Spanish column in a local newspaper, Ahora Latino Journal. She has been working at PLAN (Progressive League Alliance of Nevada) since 2010 organizing health care events, advocating on behalf of immigration and LGTB communities, and works to help Latinos register to vote.  

Tomorrow night, the UNLV College of Liberal Arts presents the University Forum Lecture: "Are All Rights Human Rights? Personhood from Hobbes to the Court Case, Citizens United", presented by Susan Meld Shell, professor of political science from Boston College. 

Sounds interesting, right? Look a little closer. There, on the very bottom of the announcement. Yes, that's where you'll see that this lecture is funded by a grant from the Koch Foundation. Now why would the Koch brothers be financing an educational lecture on human rights and the Citizens United court case? 

A little research into the speaker made me wonder the intent of this lecture. In a January 2011 article, Dr. Shell wrote that same-sex marriage should be approached with caution. She is the author of Kant and the Limits of Autonomy which is promoted as "an extended meditation on the foundation and limits of modern liberalism." In fact, she's written five times on Kantian philosophy. She also co-edited "America At Risk: Threats to Liberal Self-Government." 

A quick check into Koch's Foundation donations made the picture look a bit clearer. Last year, the Koch Foundation’s donation of $1.5 million to Florida State University’s economics department bought them the right to screen and sign off on any new hires for a new program promoting “economy and free enterprise.” Last October, they pledged $1 million in matching funds to create a Center for Public Policy Studies at UNR. Koch virtually owns much of George Mason University through grans and direct control over think tanks within the school. Koch controls the Mercatus Center of George Mason University, an institute that set much of the Bush administration’s environmental deregulation policy. Koch has ties to West Virginia University, Brown University, Troy University, Utah State University and others.  

Since 2006, the Koch Foundation has spent more than $50 million on ultra-conservative issues, projects and candidates in Washington. 

The Koch brothers appear intent on infiltrating our educational systems, attacking the very core of academic integrity. So why would UNLV chose to accept grant money from a foundation that clearly has a political agenda? It's a question UNLV should answer.  

Ask them yourself: 
Chris Hudgins, Ph.D.
Dean, UNLV College of Liberal Arts
Email: chris.hudgins@unlv.edu
Phone: (702) 895-3401

John Tuman, Ph.D.
Chair, UNLV Political Science Department
Email:  john.tuman@unlv.edu 
Phone: (702) 895-5258