college tours umass amherst

University of Massachusetts--Amherst

4 year • Amherst, MA

University of Massachusetts—Amherst is a public institution that was founded in 1863. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 24,391 (fall 2022), its setting is suburban, and the campus size is 1,463 acres. It utilizes a semester-based academic calendar. University of Massachusetts—Amherst's ranking in the 2024 edition of Best Colleges is National Universities, #67. Its in-state tuition and fees are $17,357; out-of-state tuition and fees are $39,293.

The University of Massachusetts—Amherst is the central location for the state school system. The university is large, but through the Five College Interchange, students can take courses at smaller liberal arts colleges nearby: Smith College , Mount Holyoke College , Amherst College and Hampshire College . Students have more than 100 majors to choose from, including an option to design a major, known as BDIC: the Bachelor’s Degree with Individual Concentration. Adult students can complete a degree by taking classes online or on campus – or both – via the UMass Amherst University Without Walls.

All freshmen must live on campus, and family housing, including one- and two-bedroom apartments, is also available to students who are married or who have legal custody of a dependent child. There are more than 200 student organizations to check out, as well as outdoor activities in and around the college's town, Amherst. For road trips from campus, Boston is 90 miles away, while New York City is a 175-mile drive. Notable alumni of the University of Massachusetts—Amherst include Catherine Coleman, astronaut for NASA; Audie Cornish, host of NPR; and Hisao Kushi, co-founder of Peloton.

+ Show More

At-a-Glance

In-state tuition and fees

Undergraduate Enrollment

Acceptance Rate

2024 Rankings

Schools are ranked according to their performance across a set of widely accepted indicators of excellence. Read more about how we rank schools.

• #67 in National Universities  (tie)
• #32 in Top Public Schools  (tie)
• #122 in Best Value Schools

My Fit Score

My Fit Custom College Ranking

Does this school fit your college needs? Receive a personalized ranking provided by U.S. News College Compass and find out. Try it now

High School GPA*

* These are the average scores of applications admitted to this school. Ranges represent admitted applicants who fell within the 25th and 75th percentile.

Will You Get Into University of Massachusetts--Amherst ?

College admissions calculator.

Data provided by U.S. News College Compass Users.

Out-of-State Tuition & Fees

In-State Tuition & Fees

Room & Board

$15,437 (2023-24)

Average Need-Based Aid Package

*Average in-state cost after aid

Popular Majors

% OF GRADUATES

ALUMNI STARTING SALARY

Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services

Biological and Biomedical Sciences

Social Sciences

Engineering

* In cases where salary data at the specific major level is unavailable, a general salary for the major category is displayed.

Faculty Research Impact

Bibliometric Rank

Publications Cited in Top 25% of Journals

Publications Cited in Top 5% of Journals

Total Papers published between 2018-2022

Citations Per Publication

Pick the Perfect Major

Discover the perfect major for you based on your innate wiring. The Innate Assessment sets you up for success by pairing you with majors, colleges and careers that fit your unique skills and abilities.

Graduate Enrollment

Total Enrollment

Full-Time Degree-Seeking Students

Student Diversity

Gender Distribution

Ethnic Diversity

Minority Enrollment

International

Two or more races

Not Specified is not included in this breakdown due to an enrollment of 0%.

Campus Life

Housing and Dorms

Types of campus housing available:

• sorority housing
• fraternity housing
• apartments for married students
• special housing for disabled students
• theme housing
• other housing options

Student Activities

Sports Teams

Fraternities

After College

Graduation Rate

Graduating Students Who Have Borrowed (any loan type, 2021)

Average Debt at Graduation

Schools You Might Also Like

Reviews & ratings.

See reviews and ratings of this school from students, alumni, staff and others. These reviews are not written by U.S. News and have no impact on any of the Best Colleges rankings. Read an explanation of user ratings .

This school does not have enough reviews yet. Click here to submit your review.

Undergraduate data are based on the 2022 school year.

More from This School

• Online Programs
• Graduate Schools
• Global Universities

Top Schools in Massachusetts

You can compare up to 25 schools at a time. Please remove a school before adding another.

Planning a visit to UMass Amherst? The University hosts campus tours on most days throughout the year, offering a great opportunity for potential students and their parents to explore our beautiful campus.  

The College of Social & Behavioral Sciences Dean's Office is located at: 

Draper Hall 40 Campus Center Way Amherst, MA 01003-9244 Google Map

Our departments are located throughout campus. If you plan on visiting a specific department , please check the department's website for location information. 

Campus Accessibility Map

Getting to the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Use Google Maps for driving directions to campus. Parking is available in the Campus Center Parking Garage. 

Bradley International Airport (Hartford/Springfield) is 45 miles south of the University. It is the most conveniently located airport to the University. 

Logan International Airport (Boston) is 90 miles east of the University. While this airport has the most flight options, traffic leaving the airport can be heavy, especially during rush hour. 

Valley Transporter (800-872-8752) provides transportation service from both airports to Amherst. 

Peter Pan Bus Lines (800-343-9999) stops at both the UMass Amherst campus and in downtown Amherst. 

Greyhound (800-229-9424) stops in Springfield, 28 miles south of the University.

The Pioneer Valley Transit Authority (413-586-5806) provides local bus service throughout the Pioneer Valley. The service is free for Five College students, faculty, and staff. 

Amtrak (800-872-7254) offers stops in Northampton (9 miles west of the University) and in Springfield (28 miles south of the University).

Global footer

• ©2024 University of Massachusetts Amherst
• Site policies
• Non-discrimination notice
• Accessibility
• Terms of use

Experience UMass Amherst

Virtually explore UMass Amherst in a fully immersive 360-degree experience.

Aria doesn't work without JavaScript.

Need to know how to enable it? Go here.

Visiting CICS

Location and directions.

UMass Amherst is approximately 2 hours by car from Boston and 3 hours by car from New York City.  The closest airport is Bradley International (BDL) in Hartford, CT (45 minutes away).  Directions to UMass Amherst .  

The Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences (CICS) is located in two buildings :

Office locations

Parking lot 31 is the closest to the Computer Science Building; parking meters are available in the front row. Parking lots 43 and 61 are the closest to the Lederle Graduate Research Center Lowrise.

If you are visiting as an invited CICS guest, your host can provide you with parking validation.

Lodging Recommendations

We recommend the following nearby hotels and inns for our visitors:

• Hotel UMass  (our on-campus hotel)
• Inn on Boltwood
• The Allen House Inn
• The Black Walnut Inn
• Courtyard Marriott Hadley

Additional local lodging options have been compiled by the University.

• Follow us on Social Media

Subscribe to the CICS eNewsletter

Tour the Isenberg School

Thank you for your interest in the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst. If you are interested in scheduling an Isenberg Tour with a student ambassador, please click  here.

If you would like a quick virtual tour of Isenberg, please click the link below.

Virtual Tour of Isenberg

On-Campus Visits

Thank you for your interest in Amherst College! We're delighted to welcome in-person visitors to our beautiful campus. The calendar below shows the current available schedule for campus visits, including the program offered on each date. Advance registration is required. To register for an on-campus visit:

Select an available date from the calendar to the right.

Click on your preferred visit option and complete the campus visit registration form.

Look for your confirmation email after submitting your registration form.

For groups of ten or more visitors, reservations are required and must be confirmed in advance. To inquire about the possibility of a group visit, please submit our online group visit form at least two weeks prior to the requested visit date. Throughout your visit to campus, you and the members of your party will be required to adhere to current campus visitor health and safety protocols . Please see the Amherst website for more information on driving directions and parking. We look forward to your visit!  

Section Navigation

Our campus is open and easy to navigate. Walk around, see our spectacular views, attend an event, visit a museum. You can explore the campus on your own (see our campus map ) or take an Admission tour.

Information Sessions & Campus Tours

The Amherst College Office of Admission offers in-person campus tours and information sessions, with advance registration required. Learn more and sign up!

Getting Here

Campus tour video.

Welcome to Amherst College

Join three Amherst students — Alexandre, Clara and Lauren — to explore our beautiful campus and learn more about academic and student life in our extraordinary college community.

Campus Highlights

The War Memorial, with its view of the Holyoke Range, is a central location on our campus in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Many of our celebrations take place inside Johnson Chapel, including this a capella performance during Family Weekend. (Photo by Maria Stenzel)

The Main Quad is the center of our campus, where students relax in adirondack chairs, play a game of Frisbee, and run into friends and professors alike.

Our annual Fall Festival in October provides a fun break from studying, with games, a 16-foot inflatable slide, hay rides, face painting, pumpkin carving, caramel apples, s’mores, chowder, and much more. (Photo by Maria Stenzel)

At the south end of the Main Quadrangle, the War Memorial looks out on the Holyoke Range.

Fayerweather Hall houses art studios and the Pruyne Lecture Hall. (Photo by Jiayi Liu)

The Keefe Campus Center is home to the resource centers and Schwemm’s Coffee House, where you can grab a snack, sit by the fireplace, or listen to the occasional jazz performance. (Photo by Maria Stenzel)

Who’s up for some volleyball? This sandy court is one of the recreational spaces adjacent to the Greenway dorms.

Valentine Dining Hall viewed from across the Valentine Quad. (Photo by Maria Stenzel)

Valentine Dining Hall, or “Val” as everyone calls it, offers breakfast, lunch, and dinner made from fresh and sustainable ingredients. Val offers everything from pizza and salads to a “Traditions” station where you can find “comfort foods from around the world.” (Photo by Jiayi Liu)

Many of the rooms in the Greenway Residential Halls offer views of the mountain range. (Photo by Maria Stenzel)

A homecoming football game.

The College’s football field and Conway Field House.

Winter has a beauty all its own. (Photo by Maria Stenzel)

Downtown Amherst, MA is adjacent to campus, offering restaurants, coffee shops, bookstores, a cinema, the best pizza anywhere, a shop that delivers warm cookies until late into the night, and more. On the other side of the town center is the University of Massachusetts, which, along with Amherst College, is part of the Five College Consortium.

Students enjoy food and games at the City Streets Festival, one of our seasonal events on campus.

The Power House is a hub for campus nightlife, serving as a venue for performances, dances, club meetings, movie screenings, art exhibits, panel discussions, pub nights, outdoor picnics, and more.

The Columbian mammoth skeleton in the Beneski Museum of Natural History.

The Science Center, which opened in 2018, provides state-of-the-art facilities and flexible spaces to support the sciences at Amherst.

In the Science Center atrium.

Fayerweather Hall in spring. (Photo by Takudzwa Tapfuma ’17)

A painting class in Fayerweather Hall. (Photo by Maria Stenzel)

A class outdoors on the Main Quadrangle, with a view of the Holyoke Range. (Photo by Jiayi Liu)

Literary Amherst Tour

From Johnson Chapel to the Robert Frost’s statue to Emily Dickinson’s home, take a walking tour of our scenic campus to discover Amherst’s rich literary tradition.

Area Attractions

In and around town.

To the north of campus and only a short walk away is the town of Amherst , home to 35,000 residents and over 30,000 college students during the academic year.

Across the street from the Amherst Town Common is 79 S. Pleasant Street, home to the Office of Human Resouces , the Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion , the Office of Communications , and the Five College Consortium's Center for World Languages .

While you might miss it on the street side, head down the alleyway to enter Laughing Dog Bicycles, an Amherst staple servicing, selling and renting bikes since 1984. (Okay, the name has changed over the years, and the location too, but the story of Max -- the laughing dog -- lives on for eternity.)

Check out the street art while you're here, just beyond the bicycles. You're also about to discover the best-kept secret shortcut in Amherst. Head down the narrow alley to the left of the street art-covered building, and you'll find a Amherst Cinema , Osteria Vespa (Italian and Mediterranean cuisine), GoBerry ’n Cream (Fro-Yo), Amherst Coffee , and more.

Although its history dates back to 1926, the Amherst Cinema as we know it today has been operating as an independent, nonprofit arts and education center since 2006.

Amherst Coffee has been serving specialty coffee drinks since 2005. This popular meeting and study spot transitions from a cafe into a craft cocktail bar between 4 and 5 pm.

Amherst Books is a locally owned, independent bookstore that sells new and used books and hosts book signings and readings by local authors.

If you're not a pizza lover, you will be once you discover the extra-large, gourmet slices at Antonio's Pizza (a slice of avocado quesadilla, anyone?). Having trouble choosing? Then wander next door to the always-delicious Taste of Thai Cuisine for some Pad Thai, or Arigato for an Amherst Sushi Roll.

The Drake , a performing arts venue in the heart of downtown Amherst, reopened in the spring of 2022, 35 years after the original hotel and bar closed. Eager to contribute to the success of the Drake, Amherst College donated funds and a Steinway piano , and both students and faculty from the Department of Music have performed there since the reopening.

Since opening in 1995, the mission of Bueno Y Sano has been “to make people happy.” Head on over today for a Salvadorian burrito (or taco or quesadilla), and start getting happy! Not convinced? Check out what Michelin star chef Marc Forgione has to say on the Food Network's series “The Best Thing I Ever Ate” .

Also within walking distance of campus is the Emily Dickinson Museum featuring two historic buildings, The Homestead , which is the birthplace and home of the poet Emily Dickinson, The Evergreens , the house next door where her brother Austin, his wife Susan, and their three children lived, and the beautifully restored landscape .

The University of Massachusetts, Amherst , is literally right down the road by either a short walk or a free bus ride. Students at member schools in the Five College Consortium (all within a 10-mile radius) can take classes at any of the institutions, participate in clubs and extracurriculars, and more.

From Amherst College, head about 4 miles south, and you'll arrive at Hampshire College , an innovative, boundary-breaking liberal arts college, empowering students to tackle complex world problems since 1970. Hampshire College is a member of the Five College Consortium.

Located in Northampton, Smith College has been a leader in higher education since its founding in 1871, guiding generations of creative and determined students. Smith College is a member of the Five College Consortium.

Founded in 1837, Mt. Holyoke College is a private liberal arts women's college located in South Hadley, MA, only 10 miles south of Amherst College. One of the many connections between the two schools is the fact that Emily Dickinson (whose grandfather, Samuel Fowler Dickinson, helped found Amherst College), attended Mt. Holyoke from 1847 to 1848. Mt. Holyoke College is a member of the Five College Consortium.

The town of Amherst is surrounded by small New England communities, each with distinct personalities and opportunities. One of those towns is Northampton . In addition to being home to Smith College, Northampton offers shops, restaurants, musical venues, and festivals.

Had enough of town life? You don't have to travel far to get close to nature. With approximately 500 acres of land comprising the Amherst College Wildlife Sanctuary , the trail is available for both recreation and research .

This striking view shows a bend in the Connecticut River and the Holyoke Range taken from the summit of Mount Sugarloaf . Local hiking options are abundant, and it's arguable which offers the best view. Here's a list of 10 local trails to get you started.

Search Google Appliance

• People Finder

Careers at UMass Amherst

Clerical assistant (summer conference services).

Apply now Job no: 523008 Work type: Hourly Location: UMass Amherst Department: Conference Services Union: Non-Benefited Categories: Administrative & Office Support, Food Service/Hospitality, Temporary Non-Benefited

About UMass Amherst

UMass Amherst, the Commonwealth's flagship campus, is a nationally ranked public research university offering a full range of undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees. The University sits on nearly 1,450-acres in the scenic Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts and offers a rich cultural environment in a bucolic setting close to major urban centers. In addition, the University is part of the Five Colleges (including Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, and Smith College), which adds to the intellectual energy of the region.

Job Summary

Performs desk clerk functions in a residence hall registering guest, assigning accommodations, receiving payments. Makes security tours of facility, keeps records, and provides information. Performs related work as required.

Essential Functions

• Welcome guests, assign accommodations, complete housing folios during check-in and check-out of conference.
• Receive and record room payments using established procedures and forms.
• Receive and record key deposits and issue room keys to guests during check-in; return key deposits and collect room keys during check-out of conference.
• Monitor and periodically tour facility to check on welfare of conferees and security of dormitory; shut and lock out dormitory doors.
• Provide general information to conferees i.e. where to park, dining hall location and hours, area restaurants, local area information. 
• Resolve complaints regarding accommodations, make appropriate adjustments, report problems or complaints to the supervisor in charge.
• Maintain a dormitory logbook with detailed record of occurrences during work shift.
• Be responsible for the dormitory master key and room keys.

Minimum Qualifications (Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, Education, Experience, Certifications, Licensure)

• Ability to communicate with clientele in a pleasant and professional manner using the English language.
• Ability to handle complaints and resolve problems in a calm, courteous and efficient manner.
• Ability to work to with a diverse population.
• Ability to work a variable shift including nights and weekends.

Preferred Qualifications (Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, Education, Experience, Certifications, Licensure)

Knowledge of the University and the Amherst area.

Physical Demands/Working Conditions

Typical office environment; requires the ability to stand and sit.

Work Schedule

• Varies; may include nights and weekends.
• This is a temporary, unbenefited position.

Salary Information

$15.00 - $19.00 per hour.

Special Instructions to Applicants

Along with the application, please submit a resume. References will be checked at the finalist stage. Please be prepared to provide contact information for three (3) professional references.

UMass Amherst is committed to a policy of equal opportunity without regard to race, color, religion, caste, creed, sex, age, marital status, national origin, disability, political belief or affiliation, pregnancy and pregnancy-related condition(s), veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, genetic information, natural and protective hairstyle and any other class of individuals protected from discrimination in employment, admission to and participation in academic programs, activities, and services, and the selection of vendors who provide services or products to the University.  To fulfill that policy, UMass Amherst is further committed to a program of affirmative action to eliminate or mitigate artificial barriers and to increase opportunities for the recruitment and advancement of qualified minorities, women, persons with disabilities, and covered veterans.  It is the policy of UMass Amherst to comply with the applicable federal and state statutes, rules, and regulations concerning equal opportunity and affirmative action.

Advertised: Apr 18 2024 Eastern Daylight Time Applications close: Jul 18 2024 Eastern Daylight Time

Back to search results Apply now Refer a friend

We will email you new jobs that match this search.

Great, we can send you jobs like this, if this is your first time signing up, please check your inbox to confirm your subscription.

The email address was invalid, please check for errors.

You must agree to the privacy statement

Search results

Current opportunities.

Powered by PageUp

Five College Consortium Jobs Fair on Thursday, October 6, 2022 from 2pm-5pm. Learn more about the Five College Consortium Jobs Fair.

Returning Applicant?

Login to complete your application and/or apply for more positions.

We'll send you an email when a position becomes available that matches your search criteria

Human Resources

Visit Human Resources for more information on benefits, payroll, health insurance, retirement and general information about working at UMass Amherst.

Section Navigation

Our campus is open and easy to navigate. Walk around, see our spectacular views, attend an event, visit a museum. You can explore the campus on your own (see our campus map ) or take an Admission tour.

Information Sessions & Campus Tours

The Amherst College Office of Admission offers in-person campus tours and information sessions, with advance registration required. Learn more and sign up!

Getting Here

Campus tour video.

Welcome to Amherst College

Join three Amherst students — Alexandre, Clara and Lauren — to explore our beautiful campus and learn more about academic and student life in our extraordinary college community.

Campus Highlights

The War Memorial, with its view of the Holyoke Range, is a central location on our campus in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Many of our celebrations take place inside Johnson Chapel, including this a capella performance during Family Weekend. (Photo by Maria Stenzel)

The Main Quad is the center of our campus, where students relax in adirondack chairs, play a game of Frisbee, and run into friends and professors alike.

Our annual Fall Festival in October provides a fun break from studying, with games, a 16-foot inflatable slide, hay rides, face painting, pumpkin carving, caramel apples, s’mores, chowder, and much more. (Photo by Maria Stenzel)

At the south end of the Main Quadrangle, the War Memorial looks out on the Holyoke Range.

Fayerweather Hall houses art studios and the Pruyne Lecture Hall. (Photo by Jiayi Liu)

The Keefe Campus Center is home to the resource centers and Schwemm’s Coffee House, where you can grab a snack, sit by the fireplace, or listen to the occasional jazz performance. (Photo by Maria Stenzel)

Who’s up for some volleyball? This sandy court is one of the recreational spaces adjacent to the Greenway dorms.

Valentine Dining Hall viewed from across the Valentine Quad. (Photo by Maria Stenzel)

Valentine Dining Hall, or “Val” as everyone calls it, offers breakfast, lunch, and dinner made from fresh and sustainable ingredients. Val offers everything from pizza and salads to a “Traditions” station where you can find “comfort foods from around the world.” (Photo by Jiayi Liu)

Many of the rooms in the Greenway Residential Halls offer views of the mountain range. (Photo by Maria Stenzel)

A homecoming football game.

The College’s football field and Conway Field House.

Winter has a beauty all its own. (Photo by Maria Stenzel)

Downtown Amherst, MA is adjacent to campus, offering restaurants, coffee shops, bookstores, a cinema, the best pizza anywhere, a shop that delivers warm cookies until late into the night, and more. On the other side of the town center is the University of Massachusetts, which, along with Amherst College, is part of the Five College Consortium.

Students enjoy food and games at the City Streets Festival, one of our seasonal events on campus.

The Power House is a hub for campus nightlife, serving as a venue for performances, dances, club meetings, movie screenings, art exhibits, panel discussions, pub nights, outdoor picnics, and more.

The Columbian mammoth skeleton in the Beneski Museum of Natural History.

The Science Center, which opened in 2018, provides state-of-the-art facilities and flexible spaces to support the sciences at Amherst.

In the Science Center atrium.

Fayerweather Hall in spring. (Photo by Takudzwa Tapfuma ’17)

A painting class in Fayerweather Hall. (Photo by Maria Stenzel)

A class outdoors on the Main Quadrangle, with a view of the Holyoke Range. (Photo by Jiayi Liu)

Literary Amherst Tour

From Johnson Chapel to the Robert Frost’s statue to Emily Dickinson’s home, take a walking tour of our scenic campus to discover Amherst’s rich literary tradition.

Area Attractions

In and around town.

To the north of campus and only a short walk away is the town of Amherst , home to 35,000 residents and over 30,000 college students during the academic year.

Across the street from the Amherst Town Common is 79 S. Pleasant Street, home to the Office of Human Resouces , the Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion , the Office of Communications , and the Five College Consortium's Center for World Languages .

While you might miss it on the street side, head down the alleyway to enter Laughing Dog Bicycles, an Amherst staple servicing, selling and renting bikes since 1984. (Okay, the name has changed over the years, and the location too, but the story of Max -- the laughing dog -- lives on for eternity.)

Check out the street art while you're here, just beyond the bicycles. You're also about to discover the best-kept secret shortcut in Amherst. Head down the narrow alley to the left of the street art-covered building, and you'll find a Amherst Cinema , Osteria Vespa (Italian and Mediterranean cuisine), GoBerry ’n Cream (Fro-Yo), Amherst Coffee , and more.

Although its history dates back to 1926, the Amherst Cinema as we know it today has been operating as an independent, nonprofit arts and education center since 2006.

Amherst Coffee has been serving specialty coffee drinks since 2005. This popular meeting and study spot transitions from a cafe into a craft cocktail bar between 4 and 5 pm.

Amherst Books is a locally owned, independent bookstore that sells new and used books and hosts book signings and readings by local authors.

If you're not a pizza lover, you will be once you discover the extra-large, gourmet slices at Antonio's Pizza (a slice of avocado quesadilla, anyone?). Having trouble choosing? Then wander next door to the always-delicious Taste of Thai Cuisine for some Pad Thai, or Arigato for an Amherst Sushi Roll.

The Drake , a performing arts venue in the heart of downtown Amherst, reopened in the spring of 2022, 35 years after the original hotel and bar closed. Eager to contribute to the success of the Drake, Amherst College donated funds and a Steinway piano , and both students and faculty from the Department of Music have performed there since the reopening.

Since opening in 1995, the mission of Bueno Y Sano has been “to make people happy.” Head on over today for a Salvadorian burrito (or taco or quesadilla), and start getting happy! Not convinced? Check out what Michelin star chef Marc Forgione has to say on the Food Network's series “The Best Thing I Ever Ate” .

Also within walking distance of campus is the Emily Dickinson Museum featuring two historic buildings, The Homestead , which is the birthplace and home of the poet Emily Dickinson, The Evergreens , the house next door where her brother Austin, his wife Susan, and their three children lived, and the beautifully restored landscape .

The University of Massachusetts, Amherst , is literally right down the road by either a short walk or a free bus ride. Students at member schools in the Five College Consortium (all within a 10-mile radius) can take classes at any of the institutions, participate in clubs and extracurriculars, and more.

From Amherst College, head about 4 miles south, and you'll arrive at Hampshire College , an innovative, boundary-breaking liberal arts college, empowering students to tackle complex world problems since 1970. Hampshire College is a member of the Five College Consortium.

Located in Northampton, Smith College has been a leader in higher education since its founding in 1871, guiding generations of creative and determined students. Smith College is a member of the Five College Consortium.

Founded in 1837, Mt. Holyoke College is a private liberal arts women's college located in South Hadley, MA, only 10 miles south of Amherst College. One of the many connections between the two schools is the fact that Emily Dickinson (whose grandfather, Samuel Fowler Dickinson, helped found Amherst College), attended Mt. Holyoke from 1847 to 1848. Mt. Holyoke College is a member of the Five College Consortium.

The town of Amherst is surrounded by small New England communities, each with distinct personalities and opportunities. One of those towns is Northampton . In addition to being home to Smith College, Northampton offers shops, restaurants, musical venues, and festivals.

Had enough of town life? You don't have to travel far to get close to nature. With approximately 500 acres of land comprising the Amherst College Wildlife Sanctuary , the trail is available for both recreation and research .

This striking view shows a bend in the Connecticut River and the Holyoke Range taken from the summit of Mount Sugarloaf . Local hiking options are abundant, and it's arguable which offers the best view. Here's a list of 10 local trails to get you started.

• National Security
• Environment
• Special Investigations
• More Ways to Donate
• Impact & Reports
• Join Newsletter
• Become a Source

© THE INTERCEPT

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

“Kill All Arabs”: The Feds Are Investigating UMass Amherst for Anti-Palestinian Bias

The Department of Education is probing claims that the school discriminated against Palestinian and Arab students amid Israel’s war on Gaza.

• Share on Facebook
• Share on LinkedIn
• Share on WhatsApp

The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has opened an investigation into the University of Massachusetts Amherst in response to a complaint that alleges that the school took months to address the harassment of Palestinian and Arab students.

In the previously unreported civil rights complaint , 18 students said that they have “been the target of extreme anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab harassment and discrimination by fellow UMass students, including receiving racial slurs, death threats and in one instance, actually being assaulted.” The result, the students said, was a hostile environment for all Arab and Palestinian students, those perceived to be Palestinian, and their allies on campus. Among the most chilling allegations involves a student yelling “kill all Arabs” at fellow students protesting Israel’s war on Gaza. 

The complaint, which was filed under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, charges that despite repeated communication to over a dozen administrators and Title IX officials, the school “was extremely slow to take action” and that its stonewalling exacerbated the hostile environment.

The Education Department’s civil rights division, known as OCR, opened its inquiry on April 16, less than two weeks after the legal advocacy group Palestine Legal filed the complaint on behalf of the students. The office will ultimately determine whether or not the school’s handling of the harassment complaints and disciplining of students involved in on-campus protests violated federal civil rights law.

“When you have a complaint that so clearly, and in such detail, lays out the severity of the hostile environment … I think that led OCR to really swiftly open it,” said Radhika Sainath, senior staff attorney at Palestine Legal. “It’s an ongoing environment too.”

The Department of Education declined to comment on the pending investigation, and the university did not respond to a request for comment on the probe or the allegations.

Over the past six months, students across the country have conducted protests, sit-ins, and other demonstrations calling for a ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza and for their institutions to divest from Israel’s occupation of Palestine. While universities have largely responded with an iron fist, the Department of Education has been increasingly brought in to investigate civil rights claims. Since October 7, Palestine Legal has filed five complaints with the OCR, including against Northwestern Law and the University of North Carolina . Conversely, pro-Israel groups have used the civil rights law to target students speaking out in support of Palestinian rights.

Tariq Habash, a former political appointee in the Department of Education who resigned in January in protest of President Joe Biden’s policies on the Gaza war, said that universities’ widespread crackdowns against anti-war protests is connected to the discrimination students have complained of. 

“This is not how you prevent discrimination. This is how you enable it and how you make it normalized.”

“The condemnation has been so swift against largely peaceful, non-violent anti-war protests that are calling for an end to an ongoing genocide of Palestinians,” Habash said. “They’re arresting faculty who are trying to protect students who are in the middle of prayers. They are suspending students. They are kicking them out of their dorms and throwing their belongings into alleyways — this is not how you create safe, inclusive environments. This is not how you prevent discrimination. This is how you enable it and how you make it normalized.”

Targeted Harassment 

The 49-page complaint lays out allegations of harassment going as far back as the immediate aftermath of Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7. The complaint alleges that a student began appearing at Students for Justice in Palestine and other related off-campus protests, “shouting threats such as ‘Kill all Arabs,’ playing a speaker with a recording of the sounds of bombs and other explosions and attempting to ram student protestors with an electric scooter.” 

The student, whose name is redacted in the copy of the complaint reviewed by The Intercept, also allegedly attempted to intimidate an elderly woman among other people, “while also being extremely racist towards Arabs and Palestinians, stating ‘level Gaza’ and ‘Kill all Arabs.’”

The complainants also report receiving vicious messages and threats online, also allegedly by a student and student-run accounts with names like “@amherstzionwarroom, @UMass_amherst_sjp_watch, @UMass_amherst_zionists and @UMass_zionists.”

Some of the posts called the students “classic Islamic barbarism supporters [who] love raping and killing,” and “genocidal barbarian baby decapitator supporters.” One account, named “palisranimals,” reportedly targeted two students, making comments like “where is the best beach in Gaza to build a house next to?! I’ve heard Pali bones make great foundation!” and “every ‘Palestinian’ child in Gaza is actually a terrorist.”

“These accounts would target SJP students and comment on their meeting times, eventually bragged about the doxing on Canary Mission,” reads the complaint, referring to a website that targets and doxxes students and professors who criticize the Israeli government.

The school’s Equal Opportunity and Access Office determined in February that a student was running the accounts, according to the complaint.

Over a matter of weeks, into months, the targeted students and their parents would email administrators asking for support, at the very least a public expression from the university that it cared for its Arab and Palestinian students and would not accept hate toward them. Sometimes they would not hear back for days, sometimes not at all. 

As administrators began to engage with individual complaints, the complaint states, they did not enact broader measures to “effectively put an end to the hostile environment as a whole,” nor issue any statement explicitly condemning anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab behavior.

“We spent our senior year just compiling evidence against our own school.”

“We spent our senior year just compiling evidence against our own school,” said Emmanuelle Sussman, one of the student complainants. “OCR was like a second full-time job. … It’s insane the degree to which this has been our time spent, plus everything else that’s going on.”

Meanwhile, university leadership took strides to express solidarity with Israel. In October, UMass President Marty Meehan co-founded a broad coalition of more than 100 institutions of higher education standing “with Israel and against Hamas.” And in November, according to the complaint, university administrators “appear to have participated in at least two events” with the Anti-Defamation League — an organization that has been criticized for conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism and that has given the school an “F” rating in its “Campus Antisemitism Report Card.” The complaint cites an email sent to members of the administration, including Meehan, that states that one of those events would be focused on “making it clear that Anti-Zionism is in fact antisemitism.”

Mass Arrests

In October, the university arrested 57 demonstrators conducting a sit-in protest on campus, calling on the school to cut ties with weapons manufacturers involved in Israel’s occupation of Palestine.

The complaint notes that the day after the October protest, Chancellor Javier Reyes and his assistant Mike Malone met with four student protesters to discuss the arrests and their demands. At the meeting, according to the complaint, the chancellor assured the students that the school would not press disciplinary charges against them and that they would not suffer any consequences other than those stemming from the criminal trespassing charges brought by the UMass Police Department. 

Two weeks later, however, all 57 arrested students received notice that the university was in fact pursuing disciplinary charges against them for trespassing. The students went through code of conduct hearings amid final exams, right before the winter holiday, and none of them succeeded in appealing their sanctions, regardless of their records or references from professors and employers. The rush with which the school arrested and disciplined the students was a departure from its handling of previous protests, according to the complaint. 

Meanwhile, three students were barred from studying abroad the following semester because of the disciplinary sanctions. The complaint notes that when parents and students attempted to appeal that decision, they were informed that it came from Kalpen Trivedi, vice provost for global affairs and International Programs Office director. The complaint includes a purported screenshot of Trivedi’s Facebook page, in which he suggests doctors at Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital, the United Nations, the World Health Organization, and the media were complicit with Hamas. (At the time, the Israeli military had laid siege to the hospital while claiming, without credible evidence , that it was a command and control center for Hamas.) 

“They are all Hamas. All grotesquely evil,” reads the screenshot. Trivedi could not be reached for comment.

The complaint also charges that the UMass Police Department published the home addresses of the arrested students, many of whom were already facing harassment. In response to repeated requests by parents to remove the addresses from its website, according to the complaint, the police department claimed it was required to publish the addresses by state law. In fact, state law requires the agency only to make addresses available as a public record, not to post them online.

The police department eventually removed the students’ home addresses from its website several weeks later, on December 5. The department did not respond to a request for comment. 

“We were fighting like tooth and nail to get them to remove our private addresses off the internet.” 

“While we were experiencing this crazy level of harassment and deeply, deeply concerning threats of violence, we also were fighting our own police department that we were reporting these incidents to,” Maysoun Batley, one of the students who filed the complaint, told The Intercept. “We were fighting like tooth and nail to get them to remove our private addresses off the internet.”

“Hundreds of Emails”

The complaint also lays out various interactions the students or their parents had with university administrators that left the complainants frustrated by what they felt was an inept response.

In late November, when three Palestinian college students were shot in nearby Vermont, one frustrated parent wrote to Reyes, Meehan, and Assistant Vice Chancellor and Chief of Police Tyrone Parham.

“Three Palestinian undergraduate students were shot in Vermont last night!! Three young men were shot! Instead of protecting our children in this current political climate, you are exposing them to risk. This is dangerous and irresponsible. You need to take ACTIVE STEPS to protect our children. I expect a call. I expect an email to the ‘UMass community.’ I expect action beyond the empty words that you have offered so far!”

The university brass did not respond, according to the complaint.

Join Our Newsletter

Original reporting. fearless journalism. delivered to you..

In December, the students said, they were invited to two Zoom meetings with administrators and faculty who apparently were seeking to understand how to make the students feel safer. Instead, the students told The Intercept that they walked away feeling less than fully embraced, citing one professor who apparently criticized their protests.

“This reminds me less of what my dad told me about sit-ins in 1962 in Kentucky, and sounds more like Nazi students shouting down Jewish professors in 1932 in Berlin,” a professor said, according to the students. The professor reportedly suggested that the students “turn down the volume.”

In face of lackluster institutional support, the students took it upon themselves to seek out protections like anti-harassment or no-contact orders.

While the school’s Title IX coordinator granted a mutual no-contact directive to one student against another student accused of harassment on November 29, according to the complaint, it was not until January 30 that other students received similar protections. And it was not until March 28 that the complainants received court-sanctioned harassment prevention orders against other students harassing them, which went into effect the next day.

“Hundreds of emails toward them proving all the harassment since mid-October, and it took them until March 29,” said Ruya Hazeyen, another one of the students who filed the complaint. “And all of them are still allowed on campus, even though we have proof of some of them assaulting our members, threatening our members, doxxing our members. They’re still all right now on campus.”

Contact the author:

Pro-Israel Advocates Are Weaponizing “Safety” on College Campuses

Rep. Josh Gottheimer Goes to War Against High Schoolers Protesting for Gaza

Amid Gaza Protests, Universities Are Cracking Down on a Celebrated Protest Tactic: Sit-ins

Student Protests for Gaza Targeted by Pro-Israel Groups for Alleged Civil Rights Violations

Latest stories.

Intercepted Podcast

Biden’s Indifference to Palestinian Lives Is Sending the Middle East Into the Abyss

Intercepted

The U.S. dedication to Israel’s war of annihilation has created a tornado of instability and danger.

As Biden Cheers TikTok Ban, White House Embraces TikTok Influencers

Ken Klippenstein, Daniel Boguslaw

The White House brushes off accusations of hypocrisy, courting TikTok while seeking to ban it.

Chuck Schumer Privately Warns Pakistan: Don't Kill Imran Khan in Prison

Ryan Grim, Murtaza Hussain

Supporters worry Khan’s life is in danger and with good reason: The military has a long history of killing deposed leaders.

2024 UMassGives

Each year, the UMass Amherst community comes together to support the parts of campus they love by making gifts and spreading the word on social media and via email!

What is umassgives.

UMassGives is a two-day online giving campaign, Wednesday 4/24 and Thursday 4/25, using email, texts, and social media to encourage people to give to their favorite area of UMass Amherst. 

How can I get involved?

#GiveHappy this year and help us make this year better than ever! Be part of the fun by following along on the HFA social media channels: 

Giving links will be available soon!

Global footer

• ©2024 University of Massachusetts Amherst
• Site policies
• Non-discrimination notice
• Accessibility
• Terms of use