AMHERST — An hourlong meeting Thursday between senior leaders at the University of Massachusetts, including Chancellor Javier Reyes, and students who organized a rally and sit-in Wednesday to support Palestinian rights and protest the ongoing Israel-Hamas war appears to have temporarily put on pause this week’s campus activism that led to more than 50 arrests.

But UMass Dissenters, one of several groups that organized the 12-hour demonstration that ended with UMass Police arresting 56 students and one employee for trespassing at Whitmore Administration Building, are pledging to continue their actions.

The group’s leaders said Reyes and Shelly Perdomo-Ahmed, interim vice chancellor for Student Affairs and Campus Life, failed to condemn Israel’s actions in Gaza and agree to cut ties with defense contractors. They took to Instagram to write that a campuswide letter put out by Reyes and Perdomo-Ahmed after the meeting was an “empty statement filled with lip-service inaction.”

“For tonight, rest, and take care of one another. More will come soon! Join us,” the group wrote.

In their letter, Reyes and Perdomo-Ahmed emphasized that UMass will have a role in ongoing teaching, learning and dialogue as Israel’s military actions in Gaza continue, and makes it explicit that Islamophobic and antisemitic attacks on campus will not be tolerated.

“The last few weeks have seen long-active conflict in the Middle East develop into open war. With thousands of Israeli and Palestinian casualties, our hearts break for those in the region, across the globe, and here in Amherst affected by this violence,” Reyes and Perdomo-Ahmed wrote. “As a community, we are committed to the care of every one of our students, and we know that events such as these can take a toll on one’s mental health and wellbeing.”

The letter continues, “We know that it feels like there is little room for dialogue on the heart-wrenching issues we are facing. The public debate and social forums, both virtual and in person, can feel less like an open square and more like a divide that can only be yelled across with increasingly loud voices.”

Their letter, though, doesn’t address the demands made by the student protesters, delivered Wednesday afternoon, that call for UMass to divest and cut all ties from “war profiteers,” like Raytheon, and replace them with groups working toward a sustainable and demilitarized future; and that Reyes make a statement condemning what they contend is Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Protesters also sought a statement of support for Palestinian, Arab, Jewish and Muslim students.

UMass Dissenters expressed their displeasure with the letter in its Instagram post. “We know that power will not yield power without intense pressure. We will not back down,” they wrote.

A statement released from the UMass News Office late Wednesday indicated that the demands from the students did not align with the university’s publicly stated positions and policies.

Since then, the UMass Dissenters group has added a third demand focused on those who were arrested: that there be no repercussions for their actions. Some of those arrested began being arraigned in Eastern Hampshire District Court in Belchertown Thursday morning, pleading not guilty, with others to be arraigned through early next week, according to a report in the Daily Collegian.

The letter from Reyes and Perdomo-Ahmed notes that UMass has a long-standing history of respecting and valuing student activism and that what took place lies at the heart of free speech and vigorous, public debate. Arrests were made of those refusing a lawful order to depart a university building after it was closed for the day. Even as they were arrested until 2:30 a.m., members of the Student Affairs and Campus Life team remained at Whitmore to provide support and guidance to every student, “no matter what brought them to that space.”

“Everyone who was arrested has been released, and we will reach out to them individually as they navigate the next steps of both the judicial process and the university’s Code of Student Conduct process,” Reyes and Perdomo-Ahmed wrote. “To be clear, no one was arrested for their views, and everyone was provided multiple opportunities to leave well after Whitmore officially closed.”

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.