After nearly a year on the job, UMass Amherst Chancellor Dr. Javier Reyes was honored with a formal inauguration on Friday.
Hundreds of students, faculty, staff and dignitaries filled the Mullins Center to see the university’s 31st leader be celebrated and speak.
Reyes was picked by the UMass Board of Trustees in early 2023 to replace Kumble Subbaswamy, who retired at the end of the academic year.
Reyes assumed his duties as chancellor on July 1.
He is the university’s first Hispanic chancellor, having grown up in Mexico before coming to the United States for his doctorate in economics.
Reyes went on to work in higher education, eventually holding leadership positions at West Virginia University, the University of Arkansas, and the University of Illinois Chicago, where he served as interim chancellor.
University of Massachusetts President Marty Meehan said Reyes hit the ground running since July.
“Javier Reyes is a remarkable leader because he makes everyone feel heard, valued and connected,” Meehan said. “He champions new approaches and is breaking down barriers to education. In that spirit, I'm proud to announce that over the course of his first year as chancellor, he has already done that here raising $15 million to support student financial aid.”
Governor Maura Healey referred to Reyes as “the leader for this moment.”
“As a leader in higher education, you've shown a passion for the special and irreplaceable role played by public universities,” said the governor. “As an immigrant, and as UMass Amherst’s first Latino Chancellor, your story inspires and you lead the work of student inclusion and belonging with authenticity.”
The event featured a number of other speakers, as well as multiple interruptions that paused the ceremony at times.
At inauguration of new chancellor at UMass Amherst, Dr. Javier Reyes for @WAMCNews. We're up to about 5 instances of groups interrupting, mainly protesting war in Gaza (& a person protesting animal testing). Reyes emphasizes "taking a moment and letting it sink in"before speaking pic.twitter.com/KnA3GKL05g
— James Paleologopoulos (@WAMC_J_Paleo) April 26, 2024
Outside, at least a hundred students staged a protest, calling attention to the war in Gaza and deaths of Palestinian civilians.
The protest came at a time when other campuses in Massachusetts and across the country have seen similar demonstrations, with many resulting in hundreds of arrests.
When the event was over, many who ventured out of the Mullins Center were greeted with further demonstrations.
Among them were activists calling for charges to be dropped against dozens of students charged with trespassing in October during a sit-in protest on campus.
The university’s own history as a hub for activism was highlighted by Congressman Jim McGovern of the Massachusetts 2nd district, who says there’s no place for hate in any form on campus.
“You know, our universities are also incubators of dialogue and debate, and they ought to be places where free speech flourishes, and where hate has no home,” he said. “Protest and dissent are at the core of who we are as a country and calling for violence or targeting anybody, no matter who they are or what they believe, is always wrong. And we all believe that there is no place for antisemitism or Islamophobia or any other form of hate on any college campus, or in any business or in any place in this country.”
It was a point echoed by the chancellor himself.
“On this campus, there is also a deep, profound commitment to social justice, and a long tradition of activism that has been at the forefront in my first year here,” the chancellor said. “I stand before you today to reaffirm our campus commitment to academic freedom and freedom of expression is in all its forms.”
During his speech, Reyes detailed his love for academia, his family, and the work and education that takes place at UMass Amherst.
He also said that as the university plans for the next decade, UMass leadership has “a mandate to reimagine how we do things.”
“We have a mandate to both redefine and reaffirm our role in society,” Reyes said. “And as we think about the future, we need to think about not just what we can be, but what we must be. We must double down on our strengths and be humble enough to acknowledge where we can do better. And we must put our students and their success at the center of everything that we do.”
Following the event, campus spokesperson Ed Blaguszewski issued a statement regarding the protests that occurred during the ceremony.
“UMass Amherst stands firmly by the rights of its students, staff, and faculty to exercise their right to free speech under the university’s founding values and the protections provided to them under the First Amendment.
As shared with demonstrators during today’s ceremony, free speech rights do not extend to disruptive behavior that conflicts with the rights of others in attendance to take part in the program, whether as speakers or guests. The demonstrators were asked to leave and did so peacefully.”
