Shame on MIT

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, like so many other American universities, is seeing an ugly wave of anti-Israel protests on campus, protests that are taking the side of the terrorist organization, Hamas, in the latest fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

After the terrorist attacks of October 7, in which unspeakable horrors were committed by Hamas, and the kidnapping of some 240 Israeli hostages (including some with American citizenship) into Gaza, it is shocking that anyone could openly support those monsters on American streets and American campuses. But they are.

On October 9, the 85th anniversary of Nazi Germany's Kristallnacht, pro-Palestinian protesters occupied a building on the MIT campus. The incident was apparently allowed to go on throughout the day. At one point, students were threatened with expulsion if they did not vacate the building. University president Sally Kornbluth has now announced that students who participated in the protests and occupation of the building will not be expelled "due to visa issues".

The conservative blog, Campus Watch, which has been doing stellar work reporting on campus anti-Semitism since October 7, has an article on the protests. It is reported that Jewish students were harassed, prohibited from entering the building by protesters, and insulted. Some Jewish staff members who were in the building were reportedly also insulted for being Jewish.

Here is how the campus newspaper, The Tech, is reporting the incident.

 Much in keeping with the tradition of campus journalism, nothing is mentioned about anti-Jewish insults and blocking of Jewish students from entering the building. They have, however, published an earlier op-ed by a Jewish student as to his experiences at MIT since October 7. It is dated November 1, prior to the incident in question.

If, in fact, some of the students who occupied that building and allegedly used anti-Semitic rhetoric towards Jews were foreign students here on student visas, they should be sent packing. I have often pointed out that in my experience teaching English to foreign students at UC Irvine, most of the students I encountered protesting against Israel spoke English with no accent, suggesting to me that they were either born here or came as children with their parents, and were, thus, American citizens. I would also add that many of my English students were from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar. The Saudis were sponsored by their government and thus, were supervised by Saudi consular officials, in this case, in Los Angeles. I know that they had been instructed by the Saudi consulates/embassy not to get involved in campus protests involving Israel and the Palestinians. As best I could tell, they followed those instructions.

It is time for MIT's president to show some backbone. If any students crossed the line of what is acceptable protest, they should be expelled. What happens to any foreign students here on a student visa after that should be of no concern to the university.