WASHINGTON
The president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Class of 2025 on Thursday condemned the university’s ties with the Israeli military amid Israel’s ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
“Last spring, MIT’s undergraduate body and Graduate Student Union voted overwhelmingly to cut ties with the genocidal Israeli military,” Megha Vemuri said at the commencement ceremony.
“You called for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and you stood in solidarity with pro-Palestine activists on campus.”
Vemuri praised students for prevailing despite what she described as “threats, intimidation and suppression coming from all directions, especially your own university officials.”
She contrasted the celebratory tone of the commencement with the destruction in Gaza.
“Right now, while we prepare to graduate and move forward with our lives, there are no universities left in Gaza.
“We are watching Israel try to wipe Palestine off the face of the earth, and it is a shame that MIT is a part of it,” she added.
Vemuri noted that “the Israeli occupation forces are the only foreign military that MIT has research ties with” and urged graduates to take action beyond campus.
“As scientists, engineers, academics and leaders, we have a commitment to support life, support aid efforts, and call for an arms embargo and keep demanding now as alumni that MIT cuts the ties.”
She invited the graduates to join her in the tradition of turning the “Brass Rat,” a commemorative ring presented to graduating undergraduate students at MIT. It is a tradition to turn the ring during the graduation ceremony, symbolizing the students’ readiness to face the world while also remembering their time at MIT.
“This is a world that we will be entering with an immeasurable responsibility. We will carry with us the stamp of the MIT name, the same name that is directly complicit in the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people,” Vemuri said.
A group of graduates shouted “Free, Free Palestine!” and unfurled a Palestinian flag at the ceremony.
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