May 7, 2024: A Message from the Chancellor About Today’s Campus Disruption

To the UMass Community:
 
Earlier today, members of my leadership team and I met with representatives of the demonstrators who have established an unauthorized encampment on the South Lawn of the Student Union. Over more than an hour and a half, we discussed a series of demands ranging from financial divestment to the status of students’ civil court cases following the October 2023 Whitmore arrests. I also assured the student protest leaders that I am actively reviewing the cases submitted for Code of Student Conduct appeals related to the arrests that have come before me as of today.
 
I impressed upon the student protest leaders that their encampment must be removed and offered to continue ongoing discussions in the weeks and months ahead to bridge our differences. I also shared with the students that the Board of Trustees has agreed to consider the UMass Amherst student trustee’s petition calling for divestment from defense-related firms at their next board meeting in June. The UMass Foundation Board, which manages the university’s endowment, also received a request to consider divestment. The students rejected these offers from the campus and the Board of Trustees.
 
Additionally, in response to questions from the students at the meeting, my team was able to clarify that there are no criminal cases pending against students arrested in October; all infractions have been reduced to civil penalties. We also agreed to seek clarification on the status of those civil proceedings.
 
While we may not agree to all the demands presented to us today, including those which would violate the university’s founding values of the free and open exchange of ideas, today’s meeting could have been a significant step forward in in establishing a meaningful dialogue. 
 
I asked the students to help UMass Amherst set a model for how civil discourse can progress by dismantling their encampment and engaging with us in constructive discussions – not further confrontations and outright violations of university policy and the law. 
 
We have provided many paths forward for a resolution, including in our discussions today with protest representatives. Our message to this effect was delivered to the demonstrators in the encampment by the Demonstration Response and Safety Team. Demonstrators rejected our offers for continued civil discourse to help bridge our differences and refused to dismantle their encampment.
 
While we have told demonstrators that failure to remove the tents and barriers may result in arrests, this is not the outcome we had hoped for.
 
Moments ago, I asked the University of Massachusetts Police Department to begin dispersing the crowd and dismantling the encampment. Let me be clear – involving law enforcement is the absolute last resort. 
 
It saddens me to send this message tonight, but I am hopeful that our campus community will persevere to find common ground and come together in these challenging times. 
 
Chancellor Javier Reyes