MIT student testifies on alleged anti-Semitism in university’s graduate student union
“The full-time GSU staff organizer told NBC10 Boston, ‘Those who rebel against oppression cannot be blamed for rebelling against that repression,’” according to Sussman.
The union allegedly threaten to kick out any members who refused to financially support its anti-Israel advocacy.
The House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions recently held a hearing on anti-Semitism, during which a graduate student from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, William Sussman, testified about his university’s student union’s alleged anti-Semitic practices.
The July 9 hearing was entitled “Confronting Union Antisemitism: Protecting Workers from Big Labor Abuses.” Sussman introduced himself as a doctoral student at MIT studying computer science.
Sussman stated during his testimony that MIT’s Graduate Student Union has supported the anti-Israel Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions movement.
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“The MIT Graduate Student Union, known as the GSU, has engaged in BDS since its inception,” Sussman stated. “It’s one of the reasons they chose to affiliate with the United Electrical Workers (UE), which ‘endorses the BDS movement and urges the union at all levels to become engaged in BDS.’”
Sussman alleged that the union’s anti-Semitic practices continued following Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist massacre against Israel.
“The blood had not yet dried when my colleagues at MIT declared, ‘Victory is Ours,’” Sussman said. “The full-time GSU staff organizer told NBC10 Boston, ‘Those who rebel against oppression cannot be blamed for rebelling against that repression.’”
“In November, my union representative joined anti-Israel protesters who were occupying a building, and when threatened with suspensions, the GSU backed the protesters,” he continued.
Sussman additionally contended that the union “illegally threatened to terminate” members who refused to fund its anti-Israel advocacy.
“Jewish graduate students are a minority at MIT. We can’t remove the GSU or disabuse it of its antisemitism,” Sussman concluded. “But we also can’t support an organization that actively works toward the eradication of the Jewish homeland, where I have family living now.”
During the hearing, Rep. Tim Walberg of Michigan responded to Sussman’s testimony with sympathy, asking Sussman if he believed that current federal law was sufficient to address the issues that he faced at MIT.
[RELATED: House committee finds Harvard leadership showed ‘pattern of inaction’ in fighting anti-Semitism]
“In your written testimony, Mr. Sussman, you detailed numerous examples of the GSU and its paid staff engaging in extreme anti-Israel and anti-American ... activity,” Rep. Walberg stated.
“Do you think current federal labor law needs to be reformed to allow workers who have moral objections to a union’s political stances to dissociate completely from the union that represents them?,” Rep. Walberg asked Sussman moments later.
“Absolutely yes,” Sussman replied. “I have tried to use the law as it exists, and at every turn, the law has failed me.”
MIT grad student Sussman tells @RepWalberg current federal law does not adequately protect him or other Jewish students against forced anti-Israel, anti-American political activity.
”The law has failed me.” pic.twitter.com/cnZWNNwujJ— House Committee on Education & the Workforce (@EdWorkforceCmte) July 9, 2024
Campus Reform has contacted the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
