UMass Amherst chancellor sworn-in amid pro-Palestinian protests

AMHERST, MA (WGGB/WSHM) - Chaos and celebrations were underway at the flagship campus of the Bay State’s largest public university, as UMass Amherst’s newly-inaugurated chancellor had to combat more than just bright lights on stage.

During his inauguration, members of the audience were also chiming in to express their concerns with how the university has handled the current Israel-Hamas war.

Even Governor Maura Healey had to pause her remarks.

Some left in celebration, others were forced out for screaming their concerns.

One protestor said, “We claim to be a revolutionary university. Our slogan is, ‘be revolutionary’ and all this stuff and it’s crazy to me how we can say that with a straight face.”

Newly inaugurated UMass Amherst Chancellor Javier Reyes took his oath of office as some of his students and colleagues left the Mullins Center in support of Palestinians in Gaza caught up in the current Israel-Hamas war, but there’s more.

UMass history professor Sigrid Schmalzer said, “We don’t want to see the students punished in ways that are really unprecedented, not consistent with previous disciplinary actions. So, we want the charges dropped.”

This history professor started the day on the front lines of Reyes’ inauguration and ended on the front lines of the protests outside.

“I want the chancellor to know that the students are not alone in wanting to see the university move away from military research and to divest from the military industrial complex,” she explained.

Those protests brought several to a pause, from Chancellor Reyes to UMass President Marty Meehan.

Gov. Maura Healey also stopped her speech at one point, and several UMass officials even intervened.

“Although the University of Massachusetts supports the rights of free speech and expression, this does not, however, extend to disruptive behavior,” one official said.

Even with the dissents, Reyes didn’t shy away from addressing the topic of free speech head on.

“I stand before you today to reaffirm our campus commitment to academic freedom and freedom of expression in all its forms. We must also instill in our community, faculty, students, and staff that while we may not always agree, the power of persuasion lies not in being the most loud and most disruptive but in making the strongest case through civil dialogue grounded in facts, logic, and reason,” he emphasized.

A spokesperson told us,

“UMass Amherst stands firmly by the rights of its students, staff, and faculty to exercise their right to free speech under the university’s founding values and the protections provided to them under the first amendment.

As shared with demonstrators during today’s ceremony, free speech rights do not extend to disruptive behavior that conflicts with the rights of others in attendance to take part in the program, whether as speakers or guests. The demonstrators were asked to leave and did so peacefully.”