Dear Vice Chancellor Enku Gelaye and the administration of Student Affairs and Campus Life,

We, the undersigned, demand that you re-appoint Peer Mentor Bhoomi Patel to her job in Sycamore.

In November 2018, Bhoomi was given a candle from her friend for Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights. Bhoomi kept the candle unlit in her bedroom next to a statue of Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of prosperity. She was going to take the candle home to her mother over Thanksgiving break but forgot and was documented for having the candle in her room.

Bhoomi went through the conduct process and received the lowest level of discipline. She went through the staff conduct process and got a verbal warning. Now, she is not being reappointed to her position next year.

Enku, you say that your programs and services “foster positive campus climate” and “cultivate inclusion and diversity.” How does not reappointing a Peer Mentor because she had an unlit Diwali candle foster a positive campus climate? How does it cultivate inclusion and diversity? It does the exact opposite of that. And now this means UMass thinks that people like Bhoomi should throw away their religious gifts if they break the code of student conduct because otherwise they could lose their job, or lose their housing.

Bhoomi had to sit across from Ryan Young and Jean MacKimmie -- two white administrators -- and beg them to see her humanity. Ryan and Jean failed to see Bhoomi’s humanity and upheld this racist decision. Jean said that she needs to be “consistent” and she’s worried about the “precedent” that it will set. Why is Jean so scared to set the precedent that workers shouldn’t be fired for getting a religious relic as a gift? Why is Jean scared to set the precedent of inclusion and religious tolerance?

Jean said this is not about Bhoomi. We agree. This is about all students on campus who face religious intolerance and racism from the UMass administration. Re-appoint Bhoomi Patel and live up to UMass’s slogan that “hate has no home at UMass.”