The Rogers Building at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Photo by Beyond My Ken via Wikimedia Commons

By Camillo Barone February 14, 2024

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology suspended a pro-Palestinian campus group that has been protesting against Israel. MIT President Sally Kornbluth said the suspension of the school’s chapter of the Coalition Against Apartheid is about its violations of university rules on protests, and is not related to the group’s statements or mission.

The suspension follows a demonstration the group organized Monday for which it did not get proper permission, Kornbluth wrote in a letter to the MIT community.

“I fully support the right of everyone on our campus to express their views. However, we have clear, reasonable ‘time, place and manner’ policies in place — for a good reason!” she said. “The point of these policies is to make sure that members of the MIT community can work, learn and do their research on campus without disruption.”

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She added that in order to keep the campus safe, the school needs sufficient advance notice of demonstrations to make sure staff and police are prepared.

The group organized the demonstration to protest Israel’s military action in Rafah, and to call attention to the plight of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. On its Instagram account on Tuesday, the chapter asked other groups “to support our right to protest and to demand that MIT reinstate CAA and retract the threats against student organizers!”  

The suspension prohibits the school’s chapter of the Coalition Against Apartheid from reserving space on campus, receiving university funding and organizing further protests. It will remain in effect until MIT’s Committee on Discipline lifts it.

The New England chapter of the Anti-Defamation League commended MIT for upholding its student code of conduct and preserving the campus as “a space for learning, discourse, and advocacy.”

The suspended chapter has accused Israel of genocide in Gaza, an accusation Israel has denied and which the International Court of Justice has deemed “plausible.” 

Kornbluth, who is Jewish, was one of three university leaders who testified before Congress on campus antisemitism in December. Their testimony was widely panned as too tolerant of those who express hatred for Jews, and led at least in part to the resignation of former Harvard President Claudine Gay and former University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu graduated from MIT with bachelors and masters degrees.

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