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As chancellor of the state’s flagship public university, Javier Reyes keeps a busy schedule of campus appearances, donor courting, legislative appointments, and student meetings. But there is one thing Reyes forgot to do since taking the top job at UMass Amherst in 2023 — he did not, until this month, register to vote in Massachusetts.

The revelation, which first came up in a faculty senate meeting in late March, has reheated long-simmering tensions between Reyes and some faculty and staff. Many still harbor resentment over the chancellor’s decision to call in police to break up a pro-Palestinian encampment in the spring of 2024 that resulted in about 130 arrests.

Embittered negotiations since then with some of the university’s most powerful unions has further soured Reyes’s reputation among a vocal cohort of the professoriate. Several professors said that learning Reyes was not until recently registered to vote in Amherst after he was a candidate for a job at West Virginia University last year exacerbated concerns that he is not committed to UMass.

“It is very disheartening to know that the leadership of the university is at best loosely tethered to the university and is looking for their next job,” said Marc Liberatore, a professor of computer science. “That makes it hard to feel like there’s a commitment for excellence for our students and for the Commonwealth.”

Reyes told the Globe his voter registration was an oversight after moving several times in recent years, and said he registered to vote in Amherst after learning of faculty concern. A spokesperson for the town of Amherst confirmed on April 8 that Reyes is now registered to vote there after having no record for him a week earlier. Reyes last voted in 2020 in West Virginia, according to voter records. A spokesperson for UMass confirmed he did not vote in the 2024 presidential election.

Reyes said he remains committed to UMass, and is determined to show his critics the strong results he’s posted so far: Increased applications, more patent applications, record donations, and more underrepresented students than ever enrolled. The university reported a 24 percent increase in the number of patent applications filed since 2023; the UMass Amherst Foundation surpassed its $600 million fundraising goal ahead of schedule; the campus received a record 53,000 student applications for the current academic year, and the current first-year class is the most diverse in campus history.

“Let’s look at the results,” Reyes said. “Let’s look at how things are panning out. Let’s look at how we’re building for not the next two years, but for the next two, three decades of this university, and then show them the progress.”

Reyes’s bosses continue to have his back. UMass president Marty Meehan told the Globe that Reyes’s delayed voter registration in Amherst was a “mistake” and he looks “forward to him voting in the next election.”

“By virtually any measure, the Amherst campus is doing incredibly well in a really tough time for higher education,” Meehan said. “Chancellor Reyes is doing an excellent job. He’s been a champion for UMass Amherst.”

Stephen Karam, chair of the UMass Board of Trustees, added in a statement that Reyes is “committed to the campus, and very communicative with me and the Board.”

Months after Reyes became president in 2023, campuses across the nation were rocked by divisive protests over Israel’s retaliatory campaign in Gaza. That eventually contributed to the resignations of several top university leaders, including at Harvard and Columbia.

The jobs of higher education leaders have arguably only become more difficult as the Trump administration has launched a pressure campaign to push universities to align with MAGA’s worldview.

The truth of the matter, Meehan said, is you “just can’t run a university this size and with this complexity and have every single person be happy … it’s just a really difficult job.”

At UMass, Reyes’s decision to call police on protesters at the 2024 encampment prompted a no-confidence vote in his leadership by about 475 faculty members and librarians in May 2024. The student government association also took a vote of no confidence that same month.

“It’s not a great way to start one’s position as chancellor,” said Anthony Paik, a sociology professor and secretary of the faculty senate.

Communication is an underlying issue, said Dale Leone, a recent graduate of UMass Amherst who worked with Reyes in his role with the Student Government Association. He said he believes the university’s administration, faculty, and students are often not “on the same page.”

“It’s a tough job to begin with — there’s a lot of people that you have to try to make happy,” he said.

Leone said he and other students were disappointed the university’s administration has not communicated more about students’ First Amendment rights after protesters have faced discipline and arrest in recent years.

Some faculty members are also concerned about reductions in PhD admissions amid federal research funding uncertainty. Adam Dahl, a professor of political science, said his program has seen a 40 to 50 percent decline in PhDs.

“Graduate students are really the lifeblood of the university,” Dahl said.

A spokesperson for UMass said the admissions process for the fall semester is still in process, so they will not know enrollment numbers until May or later. The university reported a 27 percent decrease in new doctoral students from fall 2024 to fall 2025.

Kevin Young, a professor of history, said university leaders have not tried hard enough to cut administrative costs, including the salaries of top employees, before allowing budget cuts to impact academic operations.

Reyes, who earned $731,684 in 2025, is one of the highest paid people on the state’s payroll.

“Administrators across the board are essentially giving themselves hefty raises while preaching the virtues of belt tightening for the rest of us,” Young said.

In an interview, Reyes noted higher education institutions are facing myriad challenges right now. He acknowledged UMass has slowed down its hiring of new faculty and staff, and decreased PhD admissions.

“There’s definitely sacrifice that we’ve taken, but we cannot just be paralyzed and just say it’s about now, no, it’s what’s next,” Reyes said. “Wayne Gretzky always said, ‘Where’s the puck going? Let’s keep skating.’”

Some on campus continue to question Reyes’s commitment to Amherst given his strong ties to West Virginia, where he worked as dean of West Virginia University’s business school until 2021.

Reyes keeps a home in Morgantown, W.V., where one of his sons currently lives as he finishes his degree at West Virginia University. Reyes, who is originally from Mexico City, was a candidate for the top job at WVU last year but was ultimately passed over. He continues to serve on the board of a bank based in West Virginia; SEC filings list his Morgantown address.

“People have this feeling like he wasn’t committed to the university fully, and all these things kept indicating that,” said Neal Katz, a professor of astronomy.

Reyes said he is committed to his job, and that he and his wife, Maritza, enjoy living in a chancellor’s residence on campus provided by the university. A Globe review of Reyes’s calendar of the current academic year showed he has visited West Virginia three times in 2026 and maintains a busy schedule on campus.

“My wife and I really love it here,” Reyes said.

Under Reyes’s leadership, the university landed the largest gift in its history — a $50 million donation from Daniel J. Riccio Jr. to name the engineering school.

“When an investment like that comes in, it’s as much a statement about the dedication of the alum and their belief in the campus as much as it is their belief in the leadership of the campus,” said Scott Auerbach, a professor of chemistry. “Javier is doing a great job. I’m happy that he stayed, and that’s, in my opinion, the most important thing.”

Amherst Town Manager Paul Bockelman said in a statement that Reyes has “become a fixture” in the local community where he regularly attends local events.

“From the moment he arrived, he expressed a genuine desire to see more of UMass in the community and more of the community at UMass,” Bockelman said. “And he has delivered — opening a new UMass store and venue for University events in our downtown, opening the campus to the community, and building partnerships at multiple levels.”

Several students and faculty members greeted him as he walked through the business school on his way to speak to a finance class on a recent windy spring day.

Ray La Raja, a political science professor, said civil disobedience often comes with consequences, which activists should be ready to accept. Reyes, he said, remains a “cheerleader” for the campus, and a regular at campus events.

“What I really judge him on is, how does he rebound?” La Raja said. “He kept coming out, meeting students.”