There's a fine line dividing a professor's academic freedoms and scholastic responsibilities and the border has often been blurred at UNLV.

To bolster a broader conversation about scholastic liberties, the school is hosting an academic freedom conference today. It is open to the public.

The conference, "Academic Freedom in a Time of Crisis," will take place from 1-6 p.m. at the Richard Tam Alumni Center.

"One of the reasons we're holding the conference is the concern that, after the tragedy of 9/11 and the general fear of terrorism, that the public and universities in particular may become intolerant of dissenting views or unpopular views," UNLV law professor Peter Bayer said.

Professor Hans Hermann Hoppe, a renowned libertarian, was another impetus for the conference, Faculty Senate Chairman Clint Richards said.

In 2004, Hoppe said in an economics class that homosexuals tend to plan less for the future because they do not have children. A student filed a complaint and an investigation ensued, finding Hoppe violated academic responsibilities when he did not qualify his statement as opinion.

The ACLU supported Hoppe, and the matter got national attention. UNLV administrators placed a "nondisciplinary" letter in Hoppe's personnel file, which the university president later removed.

"In my view, the short term problem with the Hoppe case, if that's the way to say it, has been resolved. I don't really see this as about resolving the Hoppe case," Richards said. "Instead, it's a broader look at academic freedom."

ACLU officials, who have long battled with UNLV about First Amendment issues and sought to have such a symposium after Hoppe's situation was resolved, were miffed they weren't invited to participate.

"We would have been able to address local issues; but also, when we're talking about the Hans Hoppe issue, that wasn't just a local issue. That was something that had national repercussions," said ACLU attorney Allen Lichtenstein, who has taught at Brooklyn College and the University of New Mexico. "We had a unique contribution to make that they didn't take advantage of."

He said the organization could have provided a national and local perspective.

UNLV Professor Robert Correales said the institution did not intend to slight anyone. But the conference planners wanted to have a "national scope" by bringing in national experts on the topic, such as keynote speaker David Rabban, a law professor at the University of Texas and legal counsel for the American Association of University Professors.

Correales said that during breakout sessions or a panel discussion, audience members can bring up specific examples, such as Hoppe or Ward Churchill, a University of Colorado, Boulder professor who called victims of the World Trade Center bombings "little Eichmanns.

"The conference itself, the purpose, is consistent with much of what the ACLU stands for," Correales said. "There were many other people we could have invited."