Since the violent arrests of over 130 community members, students, and faculty on May 7, 2024, the UMass Administration has continued to impose harsh penalties on students for peacefully protesting the genocide in Gaza. In October 2024, the student conduct board began hearing the appeals of arrestees who dispute the charges leveled against them. The UMass community has taken the students' side, and the Eastern Hampshire District Court has decided not to pursue criminal charges. The
Student Government Association, the
Graduate Employee Organization, and a
general meeting of the faculty all voted no confidence in Chancellor Reyes for bringing state riot police to our campus.
Said Northwestern District Attorney David E. Sullivan, "Our office sees no reason to be punitive to defendants who were peacefully protesting, engaging with democracy, and exercising their right to speak freely.”
Against the widely accepted view that the Chancellor was wrong to suppress the students' principled protest at their own public university, the Administration has maintained that the students are the ones who are guilty of "disturbing behavior" and "unauthorized access."
We, the undersigned, call upon the student conduct board to declare these students "not responsible" for student conduct violations. Doing otherwise sets a dangerous precedent at a time when democracy itself is under threat. It sends the message that UMass Amherst is not a safe place to protest, and that free speech here is dead. We urge the student conduct board, while they are still adjudicating, to keep faith with our democratic values and dismiss all charges.