UMass Amherst designated ‘hostile campus' by Council on American Islamic Relations

Yahoo

05-06-2025

AMHERST — The Council on American-Islamic Relations and its Massachusetts chapter has named the University of Massachusetts Amherst a 'hostile campus,' after its response to pro-Palestinian protests last spring and the year before.
In a statement from the council on Tuesday, the group said UMass Amherst made discriminatory sanctions against students during their protests of the war in Gaza and demonstrated a 'pattern of neglect in addressing anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian harassment.' The council is the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization.
In its response, the university said in an email on Thursday that the council's claims are 'riddled with significant inaccuracies.'
A spokesperson for the Islamic council did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Twenty-two universities were deemed hostile if they created a 'dangerous environment for anti-genocide students,' the council said in its statement. Harvard University in Cambridge is the only other Massachusetts school to get the hostile designation this year.
Students, faculty and staff were encouraged to file a 'Report a Hostile Campus' form if they wanted the council to look into complaints reported about a university.
Some of the claims against the university stem from an October 2023 protest when 57 demonstrators were arrested for protesting the war in Gaza and the university's investments in Raytheon, a weapons manufacturer.
Last April and early May, students continued to protest the war, one of a number of protests around the country.
A May 7 protest at UMass Amherst led to the arrests of 130 students and faculty. Participants, including community members, shortly thereafter called for the resignation of Javier Reyes, the university's then-newly minted chancellor, after he invited police to dismantle and disperse the demonstrations. In February, it was revealed that Reyes was interviewing for work elsewhere, with less than two years on the job in Amherst.
Throughout the summer and into the fall, students faced academic and legal repercussions for participating in the protests. At the end of the summer, Reyes' Campus Demonstration Policy Task Force released a report on the university's updated policies and practices around student protests. The task force was made up of students, faculty and university leadership.
Then in January, an independent review of the university's response to the May 7 protest and arrests found that campus administration 'acted reasonably,' but could have done more to protect its relationship with students.
The Islamic council recently said in a civil rights report on unconstitutional crackdowns that Islamophobia 'continues to be at an all-time high across the country,' and 'viewpoint discrimination against those speaking out against genocide and apartheid was a key factor in many cases.'
Last April, the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights also began investigating the university after a 49-page complaint filed by Palestine Legal, alleging that the university had not been responsive to student reports about anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab discrimination on campus.
UMass said in its statement on Thursday that the federal Office of Civil Rights is still investigating the complaint. The Department of Education's press office has not yet responded to a query from The Republican on the state of the inquiry.
In its emailed response to the 'Hostile Campus' designation, UMass said many of the Islamic council's claims are 'false,' according to Emily Gest, associate vice chancellor for news and media relations at the university.
For example, she said the organization's claims that UMass Amherst created a ban on 'tents, face coverings and essential protest materials' improperly linked users to an article about UMass Boston, a sister school.
'UMass Amherst has no such policies and is an entirely separate campus,' the statement said. Gest clarified that, at UMass Amherst, there is a review process for erecting any structures, including tents.
Another erroneous claim made by the organization was that police used Tasers and pepper spray on the protesters, Gest said. The university said, 'No Tasers, pepper spray or any other crowd-dispersal tools were used in any demonstration response."
The university also said it did not 'criminalize peaceful demonstrations.'
"As the university has stated on multiple occasions over the past year, 'Nobody's right to free speech or right to peacefully assemble was infringed upon. The university's decision to engage law enforcement was based entirely on safety.' The fortified encampments, constructed of 2,000 pounds of wood and fencing installed by demonstrators, were not protected speech," the statement said.
A final claim by the Islamic organization said three students were 'banned from studying abroad, leaving them scrambling for housing and alternative academic options' also was partially informed.
The International Programs Office revoked eligibility for some students to study abroad for the upcoming winter/spring terms because of the disciplinary actions against them, but those were all dealt with prior to the study abroad period.
'No student received a study abroad ban and (were) fully eligible to apply for study abroad once any disciplinary sanctions were resolved,' the university said.
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Read the original article on MassLive.