A University of Massachusetts Amherst student has filed suit against the university over a one-year suspension imposed after his participation in an anti-Israel protest at a campus career fair, according to a civil complaint filed in the Hampshire County Superior Court on Tuesday.
The National Lawyers Guild’s Massachusetts chapter and Zalkind Duncan & Bernstein LLP filed the lawsuit on behalf of Kivlighan de Montebello, alleging that the public university violated his constitutional rights.
According to the complaint, de Montebello, a member of Students for Justice in Palestine, helped organize a protest on Sept. 29 in the campus center during the Isenberg School of Management’s career fair, where defense contractor Raytheon was recruiting.
The filing states that de Montebello used a bullhorn to lead chants criticizing Raytheon’s role in the war in Gaza and the university’s decision to allow the company to participate in the event. The lawsuit claims the protest did not materially disrupt classes or substantially interfere with the event.
“UMass suspended a student for exercising his constitutional right to protest a weapons manufacturer and supporter of the ongoing war on Gaza,” Urszula Masny-Latos, executive director of the NLG-MA chapter, stated. “That’s not education—that’s censorship.”
De Montebello said the suspension was also based in part on charges that he violated the university’s picketing code and engaged in threatening behavior, including an allegation raised at a December presentation to the Student Government Association that he wrote on a sticky note, “Jeff Hescock, you cannot hide,” referring to a member of the university’s Demonstration Response and Safety Team.
Javier Reyes, the university’s chancellor, who was present at the meeting, stated, “When it comes to how we can repair harm, it’s not necessary to call it harm.”
“It’s how we can engage in conversations like this that don’t require us to yell and scream or paralyze part of the university,” he added.
Local news outlets have reported that de Montebello was previously arrested on three separate occasions in connection with campus protests, according to court filings: once in 2023 for trespassing during a rally at an administrative building on campus, and twice in 2024 for protesting and vandalism related to the war in Gaza.
Court records show that at one of the 2024 protests, de Montebello was caught on camera spray-painting graffiti that read, “Glory to the martyrs” and “free Palestine.” Those charges were later dismissed.
