UMass Amherst faculty defend anti-Israel students facing criminal charges: 'This will go on their permanent records.'

Faculty members at the University of Massachusetts Amherst condemned what they claimed was the school’s unfair treatment of pro-Palestinian protesters. 

The group, which calls itself “UMass Amherst Faculty for Justice in Palestine,” published a letter on Feb. 5 on the pages of Massachusetts Daily Collegian that insisted that the university remove penalties it imposed on protesting pro-Palestinian students who are accused of violating the school’s Student Code of Conduct. 

In total, 56 students and one university employee were arrested on campus last October during a protest against Israel after they trespassed on university property past normal hours, according to NBC Boston. 

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The students demanded that the university end its connection with defense contractors that help Israel and condemn what they refer to as Israel’s “genocide,” as seen on Massachusetts Daily Collegian. 

One of the groups involved in planning and carrying out the protest was UMass Students for Justice in Palestine, wrote Mass Live. 

The letter states that the students were “charged with criminal trespass” and adds: “The administration is also sanctioning the students and placing them on probation for staying in the administration building past 6:00 p.m., which it says constituted a violation of the Student Code of Conduct (section 4.1.5.b). This will go on their permanent records and will be visible to any job application requiring a background check. These peacefully demonstrating students engaged in no threats or harassment, no disruption of the educational mission of the University and no property destruction.”

In May of 2021, the university suspended three students for going against the school’s Covid restrictions, wrote USA Today, though that occurrence did not seem to inspire the same level of outpouring of support from faculty. 

“A criminal record is detrimental to a person’s future, and we are deeply upset that our students are facing this possibility at such a young age. We also want to draw attention to the fact that the University is harming these students in other ways; being put on probation means students are barred from studying abroad or serving as resident assistants, which for some means they now have no housing for next semester. . . . For a public, land grant university to bring such repressive charges against nonviolent student protesters is alarming. It also signals discriminatory treatment,” it continues. 

Section 4.1.5. b of the University’s Student Code of Conduct, which the faculty letter cites, states that “unauthorized access, presence in, or use of facilities or property” falls under “behaviors that violate the Care of Property section of the Code.”

“We bear a responsibility as educators to defend our brave students as they pursue their just cause. The day is fast approaching when institutions will have to account for their actions and public statements during this genocide. We strongly urge UMass to change course, stop the disciplinary proceedings against these students, and work to implement their demands,” the faculty letter concluded. 

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Since the letter’s publication, following a court hearing on Feb. 8, the criminal charges against the students have been changed or will change in the future into less severe civil infractions, though 21 of the students are still contesting the new, less serious, charges, wrote Daily Hampshire Gazette. 

Though the court mitigated the students’ punishment, UMass Amherst’s conduct charges remain in force so far, something the students continue to oppose, said Daily Hampshire Gazette.  

Campus Reform has contacted UMass Amherst for comment. The article will be updated accordingly.