NORTHAMPTON — The University of Massachusetts can move forward with filling an assistant history professor position after a Hampshire Superior Court judge turned down a preliminary injunction sought by a lecturer who contends his promotion was denied due to his pro-Palestinian views and being falsely accused of antisemitism.

Judge David M. Hodge in late June rejected Mohammad Ataie’s requested injunction, which was based on an argument that he was passed over for the position because the university was pressured by the federal Department of Education and the Trump administration to combat antisemitism at UMass.

“Ataie has not, at this stage in the litigation, introduced evidence to compel the conclusionthat his outspoken views about Palestine and Israel were a substantial or motivating factor in UMass’s decision to offer the position to another candidate,” Hodge wrote.

The lawsuit was brought against the university and both Provost Fouad Abd-El-Khalick and Maria del Guadalupe Davidson, dean of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts. Hodge found that both Abd-El-Khalick and Davidson acted appropriately in the process to fill the position.

Hodge added that his decision was not whether Ataie would prevail at trial, but whether the position should be left vacant until that time. He wrote that “the harm suffered by the defendants if this injunction was granted is tangible and immediate. The candidate who was hired to fill the position would suffer the revocation of their employment offer, UMass would lose the ability to offer the proposed new courses taught by the new hire, and the students would lose the ability to enroll in said courses.”

Attorneys for Ataie, Ellen J. Messing of Messing, Rudavsky & Weliky, P.C. and Anne L. Josephson of Kotin, Crabtree & Strong, LLP, both in Newton, filed the complaint so that the Modern Middle East position would remain vacant “until Dr. Ataie’s rights to be appointed to that position have been determined by this court… such an order is necessary to prevent further harm to Dr. Ataie’s rights to free expression and to preserve the status quo.”

Josephson said Thursday that the attorneys are disappointed with the decision because the judge adopted the university’s explanation for what happened, despite extensive factual record that questions how the appointment was handled. But the disputed facts will now be determined by a jury once discovery is complete, Josephson said.

“We had no issue with UMass pausing searches due to financial crises,” Josephson said. But Ataie would have been offered the job had the history department not been alone in restarting the search and setting aside the work done to produce finalists.

UMass had responded to the lawsuit by stating that that there were other reasons the original search in spring 2025 to fill the vacancy was halted, including UMass losing $8 million in grant funding and concerns with Ataie’s “significantly substandard” resume reflective of being “an unproductive scholar.” At that time, Ataie was the runner-up candidate.

Now, Josephson said Ataie is left without a job and will have to pursue his professional career in other ways.

“We intend to build on our case and we think a jury will see what we’re seeing here,” Josephson said.

“We consider this a very important case,” Josephson added. “We have every intention to proceed.”