By Michael Duke – Campus Reform
The University of Massachusetts Amherst Students for Justice in Palestine blasted the University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees for choosing not to vote on a divestment measure that the school allegedly promised would be voted on.
The UMass SJP posted a series of statements to Instagram following a June 7 board meeting of the school. A divestment vote was not listed among the other measures that the board considered.
The SJP at UMass responded by writing: “Our institutions will never free us. We will free us. Disclose, divest, we will not stop we will not rest.”
The student group claimed that during a May 7 meeting to discuss the end of the Gaza Solidarity Encampment on campus, Chancellor Javier Reyes promised to hold a divestment vote at the Board of Trustees’ June 7 meeting.
The SJP alleged that Reyes “emphasized that he had gone out of his way to ensure its presence on the agenda for the June 7th Board meeting.”
The SJP also expressed outrage at UMass President Marty Meehan for wearing “a pro-Israel pin” at the meeting, calling this decision “disgusting” and labeling Meehan a “Genocide Enthusiast.”
The SJP added that the decision to not include a divestment vote at the meeting “is antagonistic to the concept of shared governance, which is the foundation that the relationship between [Student Government Association] and the Board of Trustees is built on.”
The group went on to state: “UMASS IS NO LONGER COMPLICIT IN GENOCIDE, THEY ARE ACTIVELY SUPPORTING IT.”
Campus Reform has contacted Chancellor Reyes and the UMass SJP for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.