Pro-Palestine Protests at UMass Amherst

Following the Hamas-led October 7th, 2023 attack on Israel and the subsequent Israeli bombing campaign and invasion of the Gaza Strip, UMass Amherst experienced Pro-Palestinian student demonstrations throughout the 2023-24 school year.

October 25th Sit-in

On October 25, 2023, over 500 UMass Amherst students and faculty affiliated with a number of activist groups on campus organized a rally outside of the Whitmore administration building. The aim was to end the university’s ties with arms manufacturers, most prominently Raytheon, which actively recruit on campus. Following the rally, the groups entered the building during regular business hours, with the intent to occupy until their demands were met. When the building closed at 5pm, the administration had not agreed to the demands, and police presence slowly increased. The process of arrests took place from around 6:30 in the evening to around 1 in the morning, with 57 total arrests made on the grounds of trespassing. The following day, the Chancellor agreed to meet with 5 representatives of the student protests, but the two parties were not able to come to an agreement. All of the arrested students later had their charges lowered from criminal to civil infractions.

April 29th Encampment

Following the International Criminal Court case accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, protests continued at UMass Amherst during the Spring semester. In response to the erection of encampments at other universities around the country, demonstrators at UMass Amherst launched an encampment on April 29th on the university’s South Lawn. In response, the administration urged the demonstrators to remove the tents, saying that the encampment was violating the university’s land use policy. At night, demonstrators slept in their tents and prepared for the next day. At around 6 am the next morning, demonstrators were encircled by the university police, and administrators urged them to take down the tents under the threat of arrest. The protesters and administration then came to an agreement that if the tents were taken down, protests would be allowed to continue in that space albeit without structures.

May 7th Encampment

The following week, on Tuesday, May 7th, another encampment was erected on the university’s South Lawn. Instead of tents, protesters barricaded themselves inside a structure made out of wooden pallets, with the declaration that they would not dismantle the encampment until their demands were met. A rally formed outside in support of the encampment, which quickly swelled to hundreds of students, faculty, staff and community members. After negotiations between the protesters and administrators fell through, university, town, and state police began arresting protesters at around 7 PM. Although UMass Amherst Chancellor Javier Reyes claimed that ”involving law enforcement is the absolute last resort” in an email sent at 8:30pm that night, police reinforcements had been brought in while negotiations were ongoing. The amount of police vehicles numbered 117 with over 200 officers present, and the Massachusetts Daily Collegian noted officers covering their names and badge numbers. As more arrests took place throughout the night, UMPD jails become overcrowded and campus shuttle buses were co-opted to transport arrestees to be held at the Mullins Center. In total 138 people were arrested. Witness testimonies and subsequent reporting have pointed to multiple instances of brutal treatment of protesters by police. Over the summer, UMass attempted to bring felony riot charges against students who it identified as leaders of the protest, but these charges were eventually dropped.

Shortly after the protest, during a general faculty meeting on May 20th, a motion was put forth proposing a vote of no confidence in the chancellor. This motion passed with 473 faculty members voting in favor, 332 voting against and 20 abstaining. In addition, all 5 major unions on campus passed resolutions condemning the actions of the Chancellor, and the UMass Student Government also voted no confidence. US Representative from Massachusetts Jim McGovern, whose district includes the city of Amherst, also supported the protestors, saying, “I regret that police were brought onto the campus and all the arrests that happened. I'm a strong believer in the right to peaceful protest. It's a hallmark of our history… it also means that you don't arrest peaceful protesters.“

Others praised the chancellor’s handling of the situation, most notably, UMass system president Marty Meehan and the UMass board of trustees. Chairman Stephen Karam stated, "I want to offer the Board’s full and unwavering support for Chancellor Javier Reyes…We have absolute confidence in his leadership, his integrity, and his commitment to our students." Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey similarly supported the Chancellor’s decision, saying, ”I understand and appreciate that there is a right to protest and to give voice, certainly. But it's also clear that there's no place for hate or for violence or threats of violence on our college campuses."

References

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