23/08/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 24/08/2024 03:35
Chancellor Javier Reyes sent the following message to the UMass Amherst community on Aug. 23, 2024
Dear Campus Community,
For many of us, the beginning of the fall semester is a time of joy and reunion; we return to our friends, our colleagues, and a community steeped in inquiry and discovery. At the same time, the return to campus can be a source of anxiety, highlighting projects that remain incomplete and issues that remain unresolved.<_o3a_p>
Like many of our university peers, we ended the spring semester with significant unresolved issues and fierce disagreements over how our campus community can maintain its commitment to activism without impeding our core mission of education, research and service.<_o3a_p>
As we prepare to start the new academic year, I want to provide an update on important work and dialogue on these issues that took place over the summer and will continue through the fall semester. <_o3a_p>
The global impact of our university is a source of great pride, and as we seek to expand that global reach through our faculty's groundbreaking research, our students' engagement, and our alumni's influence, we must also recognize that global events impact our community. Many of our friends, peers, colleagues and students are deeply affected by global conflicts, such as the ongoing war in Gaza, which touch them, their families and their community. <_o3a_p>
While determining the appropriate response to these complex issues is an individual decision shaped by our deeply held beliefs, our humanity and our morals, those individual decisions can also impact others in our university community
UMass is exactly where these difficult conversations should be happening. Our university is a place where ideas are meant to be challenged and viewpoints championed. A commitment to the free and open exchange of ideas is at the core of who we are as a university and has informed our campus' long history of activism.<_o3a_p>
Over the past few months, I've been heartened by our constructive dialogue. We've faced our differences and disagreements but stayed focused on moving forward together. These tough conversations show our commitment to our community. If we hold ourselves to this commitment, I believe we can make real progress in bridging our divides.
I am thankful to the dozens of faculty and community members, representing the full range of perspectives on activism and the university's response, who have actively participated in small group and individual meetings with me and members of my administration to discuss the events of the past semester, reaffirm our commitment to freedom of speech and chart a constructive path forward.
These meetings, many of which were initiated by faculty members reaching out to me, have focused on how we can foster a campus environment where challenging, complicated and controversial issues can be rigorously discussed and debated in our academic spaces and public forums in respectful, civil and constructive ways, and within the bounds of our policies and guidelines. They have occurred with a commitment to transparency and a willingness to consider differences of opinion. I have personally gained perspective by hearing impassioned arguments from a plurality of viewpoints, and I plan to build on that dialogue with faculty by deepening my engagement with students in the coming semester and speaking with staff at departmental and unit meetings across campus in the coming weeks.
Also over the summer, the Campus Demonstration Policy Task Force, which was charged with reviewing our campus demonstration policies and guidelines and making recommendations for potential improvements, worked diligently. The Task Force, which includes students, faculty and administrators, expects to complete their work at the end of this month, at which time I will communicate with the campus on next steps.
In addition, the independent review of the events leading up to and including May 7 -8 being conducted by Attorney Ralph C. Martin II, a partner at Prince Lobel, is underway. We anticipate that its findings will be issued to the Office of General Counsel in the fall semester.
Finally, I have been inspired by the volume of workshops, programs, and initiatives that are being developed by faculty, staff and students to support dialogue across our differences. A sample includes:
As we continue the important work of understanding our differences and finding common ground in our shared commitment to free speech, debate and learning, we must also acknowledge our collective responsibility to ensure that our campus remains a place where equity and inclusion are embraced and the rights of every member of our community are respected. Our students must be able to learn. Our faculty must be able to teach and conduct research. Our staff must be able to support the work of the university.
I want to reaffirm our commitment to freedom of speech and peaceful demonstration. I also want to remind our community that we have guidelines related to demonstrations that provide direction to our campus community and visitors regarding time, place, and manner for activism on our campus. These policies, applied in a viewpoint-neutral manner, protect the right to engage in peaceful demonstrations and empower, enable and champion freedom of speech while ensuring that demonstrations neither infringe upon the rights of others nor obstruct the operations of the campus.
I recognize that we have a lot of work ahead us as we strive to strengthen community. These earnest efforts to listen to each other and engage in respectful dialogue, even and especially across differences, is a source of great optimism for me as your chancellor.
Sincerely,<_o3a_p><_o3a_p>
Javier A. ReyesChancellor<_o3a_p>
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