MIT Suspends Anti-Zionist Group for Rules Violations

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has suspended the Coalition Against Apartheid (CAA), an anti-Zionist group, for staging an unauthorized demonstration in the Stratton Student Center on Monday.

“Members of the CAA — the Coalition Against Apartheid — once again conducted a demonstration on campus without going through the normal permission processes that apply to every student group at MIT,” MIT President Sally Kornbluth said in a statement on Tuesday, adding, “the CAA’s executive officers received a letter today from Vice Chancellor Suzy Nelson immediately suspending the CAA’s privileges as a recognized student organization.”

Per the terms of the suspension, CAA is temporarily banned from using campus facilities — or “any space” — for events and meetings, receiving funds from the university, and holding demonstrations on university property. Kornbluth also said that a formal complaint against CAA has been filed with the school’s Committee on Discipline.

Kornbluth added, however, that “suspending CAA is not related to the content of their speech” and that “we shouldn’t feel it’s OK to vilify everyone who advocates for the Palestinian people as ‘supporting Hamas.'”

On Tuesday, CAA accused Kornbluth of unfairly punishing its members, 13 of whom, the group said, have been “threatened” with expulsion.

“It is in these moments, when we face the harshest repression, that we know the balance of power is shifting,” the group said. “Their response today reveal 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.”

CAA’s suspension comes as MIT is under investigation by Congress for allegedly ignoring antisemitic discrimination and harassment and refusing to discipline anti-Zionist groups. The school’s past handling of unauthorized anti-Zionist protests has also drawn scrutiny from the Jewish community.

On Nov. 8, 2023, CAA allegedly “physically prevented” Jewish students from attending class by forming a “blockade” of bodies in Lobby 7, a space inside the main entrance of the university. Non-students were invited to attend CAA’s demonstration, and the entire group spent hours chanting “Intifada” — a term used to describe violent Palestinian uprisings against Israel — and declaring solidarity with Hamas.

The MIT Israel Alliance, in a letter that described antisemitism on campus as reminiscent of Nazi Germany on the eve of the Holocaust, said that, by the end of that day, Jewish students were advised to enter the university through its back entrance and avoid the campus’ Hillel building.

Then, as now, Sally Kornbluth refused to denounce the students’ activity as antisemitic incitement, saying in a statement, “I am deliberately not specifying the view points, as the issue at hand is not the substance of the views but where and how they were expressed.”

US college campuses have experienced an alarming spike in antisemitic incidents — including demonstrations calling for Israel’s destruction and the intimidation and harassment of Jewish students — since Oct. 7, 2023, the day of Hamas’ massacre across southern Israel. In a two month span, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) recorded 470 antisemitic incidents on college campuses alone. During that same period, antisemitic incidents across the US skyrocketed by 323 percent compared to the prior year.

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

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