UMass Amherst faculty votes no-confidence in chancellor over encampment arrests - The Boston Globe (2024)

Reyes said in a statement that faculty, students, and staff have sent a “a clear signal that we have work to do.”

“Although I am disappointed in today’s vote, I accept it and will do everything within my power to move forward toward our shared goal of developing better understanding, collaboration, and communication related to issues facing our shared governance of the university,” Reyes’s statement said.

“I will work to regain the confidence of those faculty, students, and staff who, in the wake of the events of the past two weeks, sent a clear signal that we have work to do as we move toward a just and safe environment for our community,” Reyes continued.

The measure says Reyes “created an unsafe environment … by summoning a militarized police force to our campus on May 7,” when university police moved in to clear the encampment and arrested demonstrators who refused to leave.

The school’s student government association issued a vote of no confidence in Reyes on May 8.

“I think one way to read this, is the faculty really wants to be listened to in terms of policing on campus,” Paik said. “So, I think next steps are to listen to what folks are saying on campus and what the faculty is saying.”

Marty Meehan, president of the University of Massachusetts system, reiterated his backing for Reyes and his leadership in a statement Monday.

“As I have shared previously, Chancellor Javier Reyes has my unwavering support and confidence to lead the UMass Amherst campus,” Meehan’s statement said. “He continues to guide the campus through this difficult moment with integrity, transparency, and a deep and sincere commitment to our university community.”

Reyes was formally inaugurated as chancellor in April after beginning his tenure in July 2023.

Meehan’s words were echoed by the chair of the university’s board of trustees, Stephen Karam

“On behalf of the UMass Board of Trustees, I want to reaffirm our strong support of Chancellor Javier Reyes and his leadership of the UMass Amherst campus,” Karam said in a statement issued after Monday’s vote. “Chancellor Reyes continues to do an exceptional job leading the UMass Amherst campus through a challenging time.”

The encampment at UMass Amherst was part of a wave of protests this spring on college campuses, in Massachusetts and across the country, that called for a cease-fire in Gaza and for schools to sever ties with the Israeli government.

Critics have accused protesters of trafficking in antisemitism, while demonstrators have pointed to the civilian death toll in Gaza from Israel’s relentless campaign of retaliation after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack that killed some 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians. Hamas also took about 240 people hostage.

In a message to the campus the night after the UMass encampment was cleared, Reyes said 132 people had been arrested, including about 70 UMass students and six faculty members.

Ava Harrington, a UMass sophom*ore who was among those arrested, described a chaotic scene when police moved in.

“There was screaming, there was aggression. [Police] were grabbing random people … that were legally exercising their right to protest,” Harrington said. She said the encampment was “completely and totally peaceful,” with no outside instigators, before police arrived.

The no-confidence resolution maintains that Reyes’s response to the May 7 crackdown “betrayed core values” of the university community.

In a “frequently asked questions” page about the encampment posted to the university’s website, officials said the police action did not infringe on anyone’s First Amendment rights and that demonstrators were given multiple warnings before law enforcement moved in.

“The university’s decision to engage law enforcement was based entirely on safety,” the page says. “The construction of an unauthorized, fortified encampment in the center of a university campus is not protected speech. The university’s responsibility is to ensure the safety of the entire community; unilaterally walling off a section of our campus is disruptive and prevents the university from meeting that obligation.”

College presidents who have ordered police to dismantle protest encampments have received support but also sharp criticism.

At Emerson College, the student government last month unanimously passed a resolution calling on President Jay Bernhardt to resign after police broke up a pro-Palestinian encampment on a public walkway near campus, arresting more than 100 people.

A group of undergraduate faculty at Columbia University last week declared no confidence in President Minouche Shafik, who called in the police to quell demonstrations on campus.

Correction: Because of a reporting error, an earlier version of this report inaccurately identified the group that cast the vote. The vote was open to the full faculty. The Globe regrets the error.

Material from prior Globe coverage and from the Washington Post was used in this report. Globe correspondent Adam Sennott contributed reporting.

Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com. Tonya Alanez can be reached at tonya.alanez@globe.com. Follow her @talanez.