Pro-Hamas UMass grads disrupt commencement, hold alternative ceremony
On May 18, dozens of students staged a walkout during graduation at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, carrying Palestinian flags and wearing keffiyehs.
The protesters, along with friends and family, congregated outside of the event stadium and hosted a breakaway graduation ceremony of their own.
This spring, a number of Massachusetts graduates received diplomas endorsed by the so-called “People’s University for Gaza.”
On May 18, dozens of students staged a walkout during graduation at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, carrying Palestinian flags and wearing keffiyehs.
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Activists made their way toward McGuirk Alumni Stadium exits to the sound of mixed booing and cheering. One parent in the audience displayed a banner that read: “You kill their kids, you failed ours,” joining the ranks of others who have criticized the university in recent months for its ties to Israel.
The protesters, along with friends and family, congregated outside of the stadium and hosted a breakaway graduation ceremony of their own.
Jarrel De Matas, a Ph.D. candidate and lecturer in the College of Art and Design, addressed those present and affirmed the students’ demonstrations.
“When we are revolutionary in a peaceful way without provocation, we should not be punished,” he reportedly said.
The protesters chose Rachel Weber as their commencement speaker, a self-described “social justice lawyer” who has previously provided services for the Immigrant Protection Project and Palestine Legal. Weber reportedly thanked the parents at the ceremony for supporting their students and praised them for affirming their children’s activism, even though they may not fully understand it.
“It’s good to feel confused about what our children are doing,” she said. “Because if we weren’t confused, it would just mean that we had produced a small version of ourselves, but the world has us, and the world needs them.”
Students received alternate diplomas which conferred degrees in “Resistance to Genocide” as university faculty and staff cheered them on.
Meanwhile at the main graduation ceremony, Chancellor Javier Reyes reaffirmed the university’s commitment to free speech.
“As a public university, we are deeply committed to upholding the tenets of academic freedom and free speech,” he said. “We also recognize that while we may not always agree, this university must be a place where students and faculty are able to pursue opportunities and make choices that work for them, even if they’re not that choice that we would make for ourselves.”
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Reyes and other members of university administration have come under fire after law enforcement broke up the anti-Israel encampment that had recently been erected on the school’s public lawns. During the operation, police arrested over 100 students and faculty on charges relating to their involvement in the demonstration.
Campus Reform has reached out to the University of Massachusetts, Chancellor Reyes, Jarrel De Matas, and Rachel Weber for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.