On April 16, the University of Massachusetts Amherst hosted U.S.  Rep. Jim McGovern at a town hall event in the Campus Center auditorium. Over 400 people gathered to hear McGovern address topics ranging from immigration to academic grants.

The town hall began with UMass Chancellor Javier Reyes introducing McGovern and thanking him for coming to UMass. Reyes said that the town hall was an opportunity for students to hear directly from the congressman and engage in “diverse discourse” about “critical global issues.”

McGovern delivered opening remarks about the current state of democracy in the U.S., emphasizing his concern about the recent visa revocations of international students across the country.

He discussed his April 14 letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. The letter condemned the revocations as “seemingly without notice, cause, or due process.”

McGovern continued, adding that while there is growing uncertainty about the federal government, activism and a desire to engage is growing, citing the recent “Hands Off” protests that spread across the nation.

“These are not ordinary times, but they’re not hopeless times, and we have to be prepared to fight back,” McGovern said.

Students who came to the town hall sought answers about immigration, policy and grants. They also came to figure out what the Democratic Party aims to do in the next two years for the midterm elections.

Harrison Jarit, a sophomore dance and film studies major, said that the Democratic Party seemed to be moving in the right direction but lacked specific, actionable plans and policies to create change.

“With all this downtime in Congress, we need to be making … the kinds of documents, the kinds of policy pages that we can turn to so that when people ask, ‘what are we going to do in the next two years?’ [we] should have an answer more than ‘fight back,’” Jarit said.

Eowyn Vucci, a junior chemistry major, said that there seemed to be a lack of a “united front” against the Republican administration.

“I understand [Jim McGovern] has opinions, and I agree with some of them, and I admire his effort to want to change stuff, but it seems like he’s only one man trying to get something done in a sea of people that are not ready to listen or not willing to hear him out,” Vucci said.

During the town hall, the representative addressed several questions about the state of federal funding for research, including one from a graduate student who voiced concern about grants being frozen or cancelled by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Health.

McGovern responded that several members of Congress, including the Massachusetts Attorney General, have been filing lawsuits supporting the revocation of some of these funding freezes, which he said may end up in the Supreme Court.

The congressman also faced questions about antisemitism on campus and was asked how he would ensure Jewish students are protected on campus within his district.

McGovern stated that antisemitism is a problem and said that people have a right to religious freedom. He also expressed frustration around the Israel-Gaza conflict, saying that polarization makes the discussion difficult. He went on to say that people should be able to come together on issues such as human rights.

Several students also asked about international students’ visas being revoked and what McGovern would do to protect students, pointing out that UMass Amherst is one of 60 schools under investigation for allegations of antisemitic discrimination and harassment and has already had 13 of its students’ visas revoked.

“You need to think in terms of a general national strike, where people come together,” McGovern said. “These are not ordinary times … If they don’t follow the norms, then, you know, we can’t play by the old rules. We have to think a little bit differently.”

McGovern said that in order to reject authoritarianism, the Democratic Party needs to stand on its own and embrace mass movements.

“In five years from now, if we meet again, we’re either going to be remembering this moment as a time when we all stood up and stopped this … or we’re going to remember, this is the moment we lost our democracy,” McGovern said.

He encouraged students to show up and get involved in state and local politics, saying, “I really think there’s a hunger out there for new voices and new faces … but you need to step up, and you need to, you know, be willing to take a risk.”

The representative restated that putting pressure on politicians and being civically engaged reaffirms representatives’ knowledge that they are doing what their constituents want them to do.

“This is not a time to be hopeless,” McGovern said. “It’s a time to be concerned. It’s a time to be wary. It’s also a time for us to think like, what can we do? How do we fight back? We can’t change the past, but we can help shape the future and you know … that’s where our mindset needs to be.”

Grace Chai can be reached at [email protected].