MIT suspends Indian-origin PhD student over Palestine essay, bans magazine that published it

The reports said Iyengar was on a five-year National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

His suspension came after he wrote an essay, “On Pacifism”, which was published in the student journal’s October issue. Iyengar was charged on November 1 with policy violations, and was banned from campus.

Eric Lee, Iyengar’s lawyer, shared the PhD scholar’s statement on X.

Iyenger said in his statement, “In the sanction letter sent by MIT’s Division of Student Life on November 1, the administration accuses me of supporting “terrorism” because the edition of Written Revolution in which my article appeared includes images of posters from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The letter reads: “The inclusion of symbolism from a U.S. designated terrorist organization containing violent imagery in a publication by an MIT-recognized student group is deeply concerning.” The letter also says that my article “makes several troubling statements” about the history of violence and non-violence, including in anti-colonial movements of the mid 20th century. Referring to anonymous complaints filed by Zionist students, the letter says, “the reports MIT received indicated that these statements could be interpreted as a call for more violent or destructive forms of protest at MIT”.

 

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Iyenger also said in the statement MIT’s Dean of Student Life David Randall also wrote an email to the editor of Written Revolution that “our publication is now officially banned and censored”.

Meanwhile, in an open letter in the varsity’s newsletter, the MIT Chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) supported Iyengar and called the university to “immediately reinstate” his “access to campus, with full rights” “… and for his case to be heard in a fair, rules-based disciplinary process that is based on credible evidence and facts, and that is protected by principles of freedom of speech, expression, and due process,” Sally Haslanger, President, MIT AAUP Chapter, and Erica James, Vice-President, said in the letter.

MIT suspends student & bans student publication for article opposing Gaza genocide, claims article supports “terrorism.”

Read this statement from my client Prahlad Iyengar detailing the facts of this chilling attack on free speech. Now more than ever we must defend 1st Am!

1/4 pic.twitter.com/eYk7CiBEcY

— Eric Lee (@EricLeeAtty) November 8, 2024

“The alleged violations are serious, and they call for a proper investigation of facts found in evidence, not suspicions or hearsay. Instead, Iyengar has been pre-judged, banned, and assigned punitive consequences without due process,” they said.

They added that suspending a student for their contributions to a publication that “does not incite violence but instead constitutes a serious engagement with an ongoing political debate is a violation of longstanding principles of free expression on American college campuses and MIT’s own endorsement of these same principles”.