MIT bars anti-Israel group from operating on campus, citing policy violations
MIT President Sally Kornbluth said that the Coalition Against Apartheid held an unauthorized demonstration Monday.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology suspended an anti-Israel gorup, saying the group violated university policies.
In a video posted to social media, MIT President Sally Kornbluth said that the Coalition Against Apartheid held an unauthorized demonstration Monday, prompting the suspension.
The Coalition Against Apartheid, under the suspension, won’t be permitted to reserve space on campus, use MIT facilities, receive university funding and won’t be allowed to hold any protest or demonstrations on campus.
Kornbluth said the suspension isn’t related to anything speech-related.
”I want to be clear that suspending the CAA is not related to the content of their speech. I fully support the right of everyone on our campus to express their views,” Kornbluth said.
”However, we have clear, reasonable ‘time, place and manner’ policies in place – for a good reason! 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. We also need to keep the community safe – and we can’t do that without enough advance notice to organize staff and police resources. That’s why we have the rules,” she added.
The MIT president added that while “universities have been the site of protest movements at many times in history,” there are rules.
The Coalition Against Apartheid accused MIT of applying a “double standard.”
”Today, the MIT administration suspended the Coalition Against Apartheid for fighting for Palestinian liberation. They have further issued sanction letters to 13 student organizers threatening us with permanent suspension. For over four months, the MIT administration has continued to silence our voices by applying a double standard to our actions. We have held peaceful protest after peaceful protest in response to the genocide perpetrated by the Israeli occupation in Palestine,” the group wrote.
The group said that the suspension stems from an “Emergency Action Hands off Rafah” protest on Monday, which called on the university to “cut ties to [Israel Occupation Forces].”
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”It is in these moments, when we face the harshest repression, that we know the balance of power is shifting. Their response today reveals that MIT fears the mass mobilization of our community, who have remained steadfast with Palestine. Thousands of our community members, from students and alumni to faculty and staff, have participated in our actions as part of the struggle for the liberation of Palestine,” the group wrote.
Notably, according to Forward, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu graduated from MIT and holds bachelors and masters degrees from the institution.
One pro-Israel group, the Canary Mission, told Campus Reform that MIT should go further.
”Canary Mission condemns MIT President Sally Kornbluth’s handling of the recent suspension of MIT Coalition Against Apartheid (CAA). By attributing the suspension to a technicality rather than addressing the group’s hateful speech and actions, Kornbluth continues her pattern of failing to confront antisemitism on campus, as seen during the congressional hearing. MIT CAA members have expressed support for terror, and the group wholly blamed Israel for the brutal Hamas terror attack on October 7th,” the statement read.
