The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) will suspend a handful of students from “non-academic” activities after they participated in a recent pro-Palestinian “die-in,” the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) reported. The decision was announced in a November 9 letter from MIT President Sally Kornbluth.
Kornbluth said the action was taken because “a line had been crossed” in the protesters’ occupation of a university building. The protest, which occurred that day, was put on by a Pro-Palestine campus group known as the Coalition Against Apartheid (CAA). The CAA reportedly staged a “die-in” at MIT’s main entrance, protesting Israel’s actions in Gaza. Earlier, administrators warned against using the entrance or disrupting research. After Thursday’s incident, some students are now facing potential suspension.
“Today’s protest – which became disruptive, loud and sustained through the morning hours – was organized and conducted in defiance” of guidelines the university had issued to the students ahead of time, wrote Kornbluth on Thursday. The incident is the most recent instance on the US university campuses amid the Israel- Hamas war in Gaza.
This is the reality that MIT President wants to hide. A letter from Israeli & Jewish MIT students:To all students at MIT,
Today, Jewish and Israeli MIT students were physically prevented from attending class by a hostile group of pro-Hamas and anti-Israel MIT students that…
— Retsef Levi (@RetsefL) November 10, 2023
In an open letter shared on X, posted by Israeli MIT professor Retsef Levi, a group named MIT Israel Alliance slammed the administration for not outright suspending the offending students. The group said that Jewish and Israeli students had been physically prevented from attending classes and that pro-Palestinian students had harassed Jewish MIT staff in their offices. “They have shown that actions against Jews at MIT do not have consequences,” the letter states.
“Many Jewish students fear leaving their dorm rooms and have stated that they feel MIT is not safe for Jews. This message is compounded by the public and private warnings of Hillel and many faculty that Jewish students should not enter MIT’s main lobby today, November 9th, 2023,” the letter adds.
It states that the CAA hosted a blockade that not only disregards MIT guidelines, but also obstructs Jewish students from attending classes. “Some Jewish students who saw the administration’s failure to respond to the targeted harassment of Jews on campus by the CAA came together to support each other and peacefully together stand against this threat to their safety,” it adds.