Things have been getting out of control on college campuses when it comes to the anti-Israel crowd.
As we reported earlier, anti-Israel groups at Columbia University were suspended for threatening behavior and intimidation.
At MIT (the Massachusetts Institue of Technology), the anti-Israel crowd took it to a whole new level, as this letter from the students revealed. Professor Retsef Levi posted what the letter said and it's some pretty scary stuff, like a throwback to the 1930s.
Today, Jewish and Israeli MIT students were physically prevented from attending class by a hostile group of pro-Hamas and anti-Israel MIT students that call themselves the CAA. This is after students from the CAA harassed MIT staff members in their offices for being Jewish and interrupted classes in the past few weeks. All of this has occurred with no clear response from the administration. With each passing day, MIT admin’s silence makes Jewish and Israeli students feel unsafe at MIT. Many Jewish students fear leaving their dorm rooms and have stated that they feel MIT is not safe for Jews. This message is compounded by the public and private warnings of Hillel and many faculty that Jewish students should not enter MIT’s main lobby today, November 9th, 2023.
Not only did they prevent Jewish students from attending class, but they also harassed professors, The reaction of the school? Not to go after the students doing this, but to tell the Jewish student to not enter the front lobby. On Nov. 9. The anniversary of Kristallnacht, the Night of the Broken Glass, Nov. 9, 1938, when Nazis rampaged and attacked Jewish stores, homes, and people.
Instead of dispersing the mob or de-escalating the situation by rerouting all students from Lobby 7, Jewish students specifically were warned not to enter MIT’s front entrance due to a risk to their physical safety. The onus to protect Jewish students should not be on the students themselves.
MIT administration recently announced guidelines to avoid illegal and unsafe protests on campus. The CAA, which planned the protest, knowingly and proudly violated these requirements, and even invited people from outside of MIT to join them. Their actions inhibit the possibility of safe and peaceful dialogue and endanger Jewish students on campus.
The CAA hosted a blockade that not only disregards MIT guidelines, but also obstructs Jewish students from attending classes.
Some Jewish students who saw the administration’s failure to respond to the targeted harassment of Jews on campus by the CAA came together to support each other and peacefully together stand against this threat to their safety.
Four hours after the blockade started, at 12 pm, the MIT administration passed a letter to all students, threatening their suspension if the crowds did not disperse from Lobby 7. Only the Jewish students left immediately. The CAA protesters did not cooperate. Indeed, the CAA proceeded to invite more students and non-MIT protestors to join them in calling for a violent uprising (“Intifada”) and justifying the terror attacks of Hamas on Israeli civilians.
At 5 pm, all students on campus were warned through MIT’s emergency notification system to “avoid Lobby 7” –– officially recognizing the danger present to students as a result of this violent protest. No Jewish or Israeli students were present at this point.
As of 10:30 tonight MIT has officially decided not to academically suspend CAA students who repeatedly violated the administration's guidelines and threats. They have shown that actions against Jews at MIT do not have consequences. Additionally, in an email to DUSP students, the Department Head indicated that he would protect any DUSP students involved in violating MIT’s rules today by protesting with the CAA. Not only do Jewish students feel unsafe on campus, but now they also feel excluded from and unsafe in DUSP.
Today, on the 9th of November, on the 85th anniversary of Kristallnacht, which marked the beginning of the Holocaust, Jews at MIT were told to enter campus from back entrances and not to stay in Hillel for fear of their physical safety.
We are seeing history repeating itself and Jews on MIT’s campus are afraid.
DUSP is the Department of Urban Studies and Planning.
This is what happens when you have no order -- when baying mobs take over. It's not just reminiscent of the Nazis, but of the Cultural Revolution, where those in groups the mob was taught to hate were hounded. We've seen aspects of this before, in how colleges have dealt with conservative speakers. What makes it worse is the school's reaction, which throws the Jewish students to the wolves and doesn't hold anyone to account.
Watch this video from earlier in the week, as a class is interrupted by a protester demanding the class be stopped -- to listen to him announce a walkout to march to "free Palestine." The person teaching, frightened or just conceding, accedes to his demands. This is nuts.
Things looked like they were completely out of control. The President of MIT, Sally Kornbluth later issued a statement saying the protesters had violated rules. But they weren't booting them from the university because that could cause them to have visa issues. So? Take action anyway.
All MIT did was say, as an interim action, the protesters would be suspended from non-academic student activities, but get to go to classes -- even though they tried to prevent Jewish students from going to classes.
That's shameful, and it's a weak letter from MIT. But this is why these students think they can get away with such craziness.