Nebraska Professors Handpick Holocaust Scholars from left-wing Twitter Followers

Lincoln, NE - A public records lawsuit filed by Jewish Legal News, Inc. ("JLN") against the University of Nebraska-Lincoln ("UNL") has unveiled concerning details about the University’s methods for choosing presenters for its Sommerhauser Holocaust Symposium. The Symposium, held on March 27, 2023, is now under scrutiny for what appears to be partisan biases. The records provided by UNL indicate that the Symposium might have been more of a platform to target political rivals rather than an educational event.

Read the pleadings on our site: Verified Petition for Writ of Mandamus and the Exhibit List. The full docket is tracked on our case page: Jewish Legal News, Inc. v. Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska (County Court of Lancaster County, Nebraska, No. C02CI230008248).

The method of selecting scholars for the Symposium did not adhere to academic standards. Emails exchanged between Professors Ari Kohen and Gerald J. Steinacher, responsible for the event, revealed that scholars were chosen based on their affiliations with Professor Kohen's Twitter account. An email from Professor Steinacher showed that the professors selected scholars for the Symposium because they were “Twitter Followers” of Professor Kohen’s Twitter account, @kohenari. Professor Steinacher emailed Professor Kohen: “I looked at your list of your contacts (Twitter) and there are some very, very interesting people among them, Federico Finchelstein (History of Fascist Lies), Casey Kelly (Trump Racism), Daniel Ziblatt (How Democracy dies), Sarah Kendzior (Trump, USA), ALTEMEYER (Extremists scale), Zack Beauchamp (Right wing populism, West). They all look great for our project.”

The theme of the Symposium, “Fascism: Then and Now,” seemed to be crafted to target the professors’ political adversaries. The professors used the event to draw “parallels” between historical Nazi fascism and whatever the professors assert is Nazism’s contemporary. This approach has come under criticism by certain Jewish authors, who argue against using Holocaust education to target modern-day political opponents in causes unrelated to the Holocaust.

The professors invited only presenters from the narrowest slice of their left-wing political spectrum who already agreed with their argument. Just by looking at the titles of the presentations, the presenters tried to associate “Christian Churches,” “Christian Nationalism,” “White Nationalism,” “the far right,” “Right-wing populism,” and “antifeminists” with historical Nazism. See Symposium Program. The selected presenters shared Professor Kohen’s exact viewpoint that he espoused on his Twitter account, that today’s ills can be blamed on “Christian Nationalism.” 

On Twitter, (now “X”) Professor Kohen commonly called his opponents  “extremists” and “Nazis,” on Twitter, even while describing modern day politicians. But Professor Kohen’s Twitter account takes the attack even further by explicitly linking historical Nazism to modern day Nebraskans. 

This lack of commitment to academic values and transparent ad hominem political attacks by a UNL professor on fellow Nebraskans betray the principles of Nebraska and its citizens. JLN's reporting is ongoing.