On Wednesday, Feb. 25, over 60 people protested the RTX Corporation at the career fair hosted by the University of Massachusetts Daniel J. Riccio Jr. College of Engineering.
The demonstration was organized by the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). Although RTX, formerly known as Raytheon Technologies Corporation, was not present at the career fair, they maintain a longstanding relationship with the university, providing funds for research and actively recruiting new graduates.
RTX is an American aerospace and defense company that manufactures aircraft engines, missiles, drones and other electronic warfare systems. These systems are used by both the United States and its military allies, including Israel.
“For way too long at this school, we have been pushed around, dealt bad hands, and told that this is normal … And to that I say, if our students can’t find jobs at any companies other than ones that produce weapons of war, we aren’t teaching them anywhere near well enough,” Student Government Association (SGA) President Michael Borowski said.
“Murder is wrong. Genocide is wrong. Aiding, abetting, and creating the weapons by which these are carried out is wrong,” Borowski added.
At around 12:30 p.m., demonstrators gathered outside the student union where Borowski and Ph.D economics student Will Chaney gave speeches to the crowd.
“I was elected to be the voice of this student body and year after year after year, this student body has consistently demonstrated that it is their by and large wish to get more profiteers, people who aid, abet it, or in any way connect to creating weapons of war off this campus,” Borowski said. “And I feel I would not be doing my due diligence as an elected representative of them to not be here and share those concerns.”
Borowski wasn’t the only member of SGA present at the demonstration. Noa Sigel, a senator for the class of 2027, stressed the importance of the administration upholding the principles of co-governance with the SGA.
Chaney spoke out about facing student code of conduct violations for his presence at a September 2024 SJP career fair protest.
“We will practice our right to free speech and to reach those talented workers who are being preyed upon by Raytheon. And we will continue to organize until Palestine is free,” Chaney said.
Lloyd Henley, director of Student Engagement, Facilities and Media for the UMass Student Union, informed SJP’s liaison that the crowd cannot have amplified sound outside.
Students participating in the protest documented the interaction by phone and Henley re-entered the student union. Throughout the protest, demonstrators recorded their exchanges with university officials and the Demonstration Response and Safety Team (DRST) after the last career fair protest led to the suspension of an undergraduate student.
Protestors then marched to the campus center chanting “Free, free Palestine” and “Not another penny, not another dollar, no more money for Israel’s slaughter.”
Once at the campus center, the demonstrators remained on the second floor and did not travel down the escalators to the auditorium where the career fair was held.
Christian “Chris” Smalls, activist and founder of the Amazon Labor Union, spoke to the crowd and chanted with demonstrators.
Smalls was among 21 civilian volunteers who attempted to deliver aid, including baby formula, diapers, food and medicine, to a blockaded Gaza as a member of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC). Their vessel, the Handala Flotilla, was intercepted by the Israeli military, who detained the volunteers on board. The FFC and Smalls have both spoken out about the abuses Smalls claims he faced after being detained for five days.
“I don’t want my children to grow up when they have to watch on social media a genocide that’s being live streamed every day. And I think that where our taxpaying dollars are going, our children shouldn’t wear that burden as well. So, while I’m alive and able and able-bodied to try to fight back, I’m going to try to continue my advocacy,” Smalls said. “So, when my kids do get older, they ask me, ‘What did you do?’ I can at least say I did something.”
After his speech, the protesters began chanting without megaphones. The group occupied the space in front of the escalators.
UMass Students for Justice in Palestine protest against Raytheon on 02/25/2026. (Astrid Wilder)
During Smalls speech and as the group was chanting, Scott Civjan, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Affairs for the engineering college, directed the demonstrators to move to the side so as not to obstruct the escalators or walking spaces. The demonstrators then rearranged to allow access to escalators.
He said that he got directives from those in charge of the campus center “that [protesters] can’t obstruct elevators, [they] can’t obstruct information desks, [they] can’t keep people from being able to get a cup of coffee,” Civjan said.
Members of the DRST were present at the campus center for the duration of the protest, including Samuel Masinter, Associate Vice Chancellor for Strategic Communications, Jeffrey Hescock, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Environmental Health & Safety and Emergency Management, and Shelly Perdomo-Ahmed, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Campus Life.
At 1:30 p.m., Hescock and Perdomo-Ahmed addressed the crowd from the middle of the circle and were met with boos from the protesters surrounding. They spoke to the liaison because they saw the chanting as disruptive since, they said, people could barely walk through the campus center and the dining hall staff were having trouble taking orders.
At 1:35 p.m., the liaison announced that they would stop chanting and pivot to canvassing.
“The main effect is we want people, like UMass students who are engineers, to be aware, because Raytheon’s not going to tell you this, so we’re going to, here’s a pamphlet, we can tell you,” Chaney said. “I think it’s powerful, this many people showing up communicates a message that this is important.”
SJP distributed a handout to passersby that outlined RTX’s involvement in manufacturing weapons used in global conflict, labor violations alleged by private lawsuits and the company’s negative impact on the environment. The handout also featured resources for students to find employment outside the defense industry. Protesters also handed out pins that read “I won’t work for Raytheon,” with the RTX logo crossed out in the middle.
The crowd dwindled around 2 p.m., but a few SJP members continued canvassing in the area.
Norah Stewart can be reached at [email protected]. Bella Astrofsky can be reached at [email protected].
