CAIR Designates University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) as a Hostile Campus
This article was edited to fix two errors. Tents, face coverings, and essential protest materials were banned at UMass Boston, not UMass Amherst. Pepper spray was reportedly brandished at protesters, but not used on them.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, designates the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) as a Hostile Campus for Anti-Genocide Students. This designation stems from a documented pattern of the university’s actions that intimidate, suppress, and penalize students, faculty, and staff who actively oppose the occupation, apartheid, and genocide of the Palestinian people.
UMass Amherst asserts that “as a public entity, the university must be viewpoint-neutral in its application of policy,” aiming to prevent infractions on the freedom of speech and assembly on campus. However, the university’s implementation of these principles has not extended to anti-genocide students and student groups. UMass Amherst received a failing score of 49.2 out of 100 in the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) 2025 College Free Speech Rankings, revealing its suppression of dissent and disregard for academic freedom. UMass Amherst’s encampment crackdown was reportedly among the top 10 schools with the most arrests or detainments in the country. The administration has subjected students advocating for Palestinian human rights to intimidation tactics, surveillance, and disciplinary threats, making it a hostile campus.
UMass Amherst administration has consistently failed to protect students from doxxing, harassment, and widespread Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian hate, fostering a hostile environment where Muslim, Arab, and allied students fear for their safety when expressing their political and religious identities. On April 16, 2024, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) opened an investigation into a complaint by Palestine Legal. As part of the 49-page complaint, students at UMass Amherst reported receiving violent, Islamophobic, and anti-Palestinian threats online from student-run accounts. Some of the posts reportedly called students “classic Islamic barbarism supporters [who] love raping and killing” and made comments like “where is the best beach in Gaza to build a house next to?! I’ve heard Pali bones make a great foundation!” Even though UMass Amherst administration reportedly had information that a student was behind the harassment, the university failed to act for months and ultimately declined to explicitly condemn the anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian behavior. UMass Amherst administrators reportedly co-founded and joined a coalition of universities expressing support for Israel, despite the university’s alleged claim to “be viewpoint-neutral in its application of policy,” directly contradicting its stated policies and further alienating students of Palestinian descent.
UMass Amherst has reportedly criminalized peaceful demonstrations, contradicting its commitment to protecting free speech and assembly. In a disturbing escalation of repression, UMass Amherst reportedly arrested 57 students during an October 2023 sit-in. Protestors reportedly demanded that the university sever ties with weapons manufacturers complicit in Israel’s occupation of Palestine. Rather than engaging with students’ calls for accountability, the university responded with excessive force and punitive sanctions. Three students were reportedly initially banned from studying abroad, leaving them scrambling for housing and alternative academic options for the spring ’04 semester. According to their attorney, the sanctions reportedly sent a sharp and unjustified departure from past precedent, exposing the administration’s blatant double standard and growing intolerance toward anti-genocide activism. The Association of American University Professors (AAUP) President stated regarding the arrests of students, “Summoning armed police officers in order to silence debate and suppress speech that poses no genuine threat to campus safety is a danger to democracy.”
UMass Amherst’s actions reflect a broader national trend of university complicity in silencing anti-genocide advocacy. On May 7th, 2024, anti-genocide students, faculty, and staff at UMass Amherst reportedly launched a Gaza solidarity encampment demanding university divestment from war profiteers tied to Israel’s bombing in Gaza and the dismissal of charges against protesters arrested during the October sit-in. The university administration created a lasting chilling effect when they reportedly called the police, leading to a violent crackdown that stripped the rights of demonstrators, including students and faculty. Some police officers reportedly aggressively tackled protesters and pinned them to the ground, causing injuries and subjecting individuals to inhumane conditions. In one report, Hoang Phan, a professor at the university and a member of its Faculty for Justice in Palestine chapter, said police used Tasers and pointed weapons at students. Police reportedly brandished pepper spray and arrested 134 anti-genocide protestors, including students and faculty members. While UMass Amherst allegedly celebrates academic freedom and social justice in rhetoric, it punishes students who try to engage these principles in support of Palestinian human rights.
After UMass Amherst sent police to arrest protesters demanding divestment from U.S. weapons manufacturers supplying Israel’s genocide in Gaza, backlash erupted across campus. The undergraduate Student Government Association reportedly voted “no confidence” and condemned Chancellor Javier A. Reyes for manufacturing consent for the violence, while faculty unions and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) criticized the administration’s justification. On May 20, 2024, UMass Amherst faculty reportedly held their first general meeting in 15 years and overwhelmingly passed a vote of no confidence in Chancellor Reyes, condemning his use of militarized police against student protesters. In May 2025, UMass Amherst Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine wrote a letter expressing their condemnation of the Chancellor’s decision to call the police that day, “As right-wing terror groups threaten to attack protesters with bullets and baseball bats and as politicians cancel our grants and seek to control our teaching, we cannot overlook the ways that the UMass administration has abetted these attacks on higher education.”
In direct retaliation to the encampments, UMass Amherst administration imposed draconian policy changes designed to crush student activism and stifle free speech. The administration reportedly restricted protests to just four small, heavily regulated areas and forced organizers to submit a burdensome five-day advance notification, effectively outlawing spontaneous demonstrations. It expanded its definition of “disruption” to give administrators sweeping authority to shut down protests at will and set up the Campus Demonstration Policy Task Force to whitewash these repressive tactics. These authoritarian measures have transformed UMass Amherst into a hostile environment where students risk retaliation simply for exercising their basic rights.
The University of Massachusetts Amherst has repeatedly demonstrated a blatant disregard for the rights and safety of its students, particularly those who dare to speak out against genocide and injustice. Through violent crackdowns, discriminatory policies, and a culture of fear and intimidation, the administration has made it clear that political dissent, especially in support of Palestinian human rights, will be met with repression. Until UMass Amherst takes real, accountable action to protect free expression, end discriminatory practices, and uphold the civil rights of all students, it will remain a symbol of institutional complicity in silencing marginalized voices and perpetuating injustice on a hostile campus.
