The purpose of this page is to collect in one place the various campus updates, relevant news and commentary, and other notable developments in the MIT community spurred by the conflict in Gaza that started in October 2023.
The conflict between Israel and Hamas has provided an unambiguous opportunity and need to defend the value of free speech on the MIT campus. MFSA recognized this and suggested ways to use the crisis to improve MIT’s policies, institutional structures, practices and messaging.
The immediate aftermath of the Hamas invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023, produced strong reactions on university campuses across the nation, including MIT. At MIT there were demonstrations, postering and other expressions of support for both Israel and for Palestinians. These initially did not raise significant concern regarding disruption of campus activities or involve speech not otherwise protected by the First Amendment.
On November 9, however, demonstrators supporting Palestinians staged a protest in the Building 7 Lobby, despite having been told previously that this was disallowed by a newly-enacted policy on time, place, and manner for public demonstrations. Pro-Israel protesters counter-demonstrated in the same location. When asked to leave, the pro-Israel demonstrators did, but the pro-Palestinian demonstrators did not. MIT initiated disciplinary procedures against a few of the pro-Palestinian demonstrators.
On December 5th President Kornbluth appeared before Congress to give testimony about MIT’s response to events on its campus since October 7.
On February 12, 2024, a week after students returned to campus for the spring semester, pro-Palestinians protestors returned to the Building 7 Lobby for an unauthorized demonstration. This time the administration was more prepared and imposed sanctions quickly.
On March 8th, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was added to the list of universities being investigated by the House Education and Workforce Committee over campus antisemitism in the wake of the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel. The Congressional committee also investigated Harvard, Columbia, and the University of Pennsylvania over this issue.
On April 21st, following the example of students at Columbia University and some other campuses, a group of MIT students supporting Palestine set up a tent encampment on a lawn outside Kresge auditorium. In response to an ultimatum issued by MIT, student protesters did clear the encampment on the afternoon of May 6th. Immediately afterwards, protesters from outside MIT tore down the barrier surrounding the empty encampment and enabled the MIT protesters to reoccupy the encampment.
After protesters escalated to blocking the parking garage at the Stata Building, President Kornbluth instructed local police to clear the encampment early in the morning of May 10th.
With the general cooling of passions over the Gaza conflict, together with the Institute's demonstrated intent to enforce its time, place, and manner restrictions on demonstrations, the MIT campus returned to general quiet and normalcy for the 2024-2025 academic year.
— Retsef Levi (@RetsefL) February 13, 2024
MFSA tracked the events on campus and monitored MIT's response, especially regarding the free speech issues that this controversy crystallized. You can find a compilation of our commentary here. This information is also available on our website under MFSA Commentary.
Throughout the crisis period, the MIT administration issued statements commenting on the Middle East controversy and its impact on the MIT community. MIT maintains a web page which gives its viewpoint and provides updates regarding events on campus, sharing relevant policies, and correcting misinformation. A larger list of MIT official communications is here.
Other members of the MIT community also expressed their reactions to the Gaza conflict, to the resulting events on the MIT campus, and to the MIT administration's response to events. A synopsis of these responses is listed here.
Understandably given MIT's visibility and prestige, events around the MIT campus were reported by the national press. A partial list of this press coverage is provided here.