The chancellor of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst says a task force will be formed and an independent review will be conducted on a pair of campus demonstrations — one of which ended with mass arrests.
UMass Amherst Chancellor Javier Reyes says a "Campus Demonstration Policy Task Force" is being formed a month after some 130 people were arrested while at a pro-Palestinian encampment in May.
In a letter to the campus community this week, Reyes says the task force, made up of administrators, faculty and students, will "review demonstration-related policies," including the land-use policy that officials cited when police broke up the May 7 protest.
Reyes also said that he requested an independent, third-party expert to review the events of April 29-30 and May 7-8.
The late April protests also involved an encampment, though demonstrators at the time broke down their tents after speaking with university leadership.
Reyes says he recognized the events on May 7 were "challenging for the entire campus community and raised issues regarding how our community should address future instances of protest and activism."
The police response that night was cited by both members of the faculty senate and Student Government Association when both groups voted "no confidence" in Reyes before the end of the school year.
Reyes says Ralph C. Martin II, a partner of the firm Prince Lobel, will conduct the review. A timeline for the review was not released.
According to the chancellor’s letter, the task force is expected to finalize recommendations on Aug. 23.
Community members can submit comments to the task force up until Aug. 8. The task force’s full stated purpose, as well as how to submit comments, can be found here.
