An Indian-origin student pursuing his PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has been suspended till January 2026 due to pro-Palestine activism and is currently appealing against the university’s decision.
According to a post on X by a group called ‘MIT Coalition Against Apartheid’, National Science Foundation Fellow Prahlad Iyengar has been “suspended until January 2026”.
This suspension effectively terminates Iyengar’s five-year NSF fellowship and severely disrupts his academic career, the organization said in the post.
It said Iyengar, a PhD student in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, is “appealing against the decision” to the chancellor at MIT on Wednesday, which is “the last opportunity to end this harassment and restore academic dignity.” “
“This decision is the harshest of several sanctions arising from speech-related activities, including an article” that Iyengar wrote for the student-run magazine ‘Written Revolution’ about the role of pacifism in the pro-Palestinian movement. I was involved in the debate. ,
“This suspension is, in practice, an expulsion, as his re-entry is entirely dependent on the approval of the same disciplinary committee that gave this harsh sanction,” the institution said.
Iyengar is appealing to the Chancellor to “rescind or reduce” the “unfair sanctions” against him.
The MIT Coalition Against Apartheid said it has launched a campaign to “put pressure on MIT’s administration to stop criminalizing students who stand on the right side of history.”
The organization called on other institutions to support them.
In a call to action, the organization is demanding that the MIT administration reverse Iyengar’s suspension before Wednesday and said more than 100 people called on Cambridge city councilors to “intervene on MIT’s suppression of pro-Palestinian student activism Is.”
Eric Lee, an immigration lawyer, wrote on “This sets the tone for what’s to come.” “Under Trump, speech is under attack.”
According to a November 14 report by WBUR, Boston’s NPR news station, about 100 MIT students rallied on campus following the university’s decision to ban distribution of ‘Written Revolution,’ which was described as a pro-Palestinian student-run magazine. Was described in. The magazine included the article ‘On Pacifism’ written by Iyengar, who was also the magazine’s editor, as WBUR reports.
WBUR reports further that according to an email sent to the magazine’s editors by David Warren Randall, MIT’s dean of student life, the ‘On Pacifism’ article featured imagery and language that could be described as “more violent or destructive.” “Can be interpreted as a call to action.” “Types of Protest at MIT.”
WBUR reports, “Randall’s email also cites the inclusion of several images in the article, including the logo of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which the U.S. State Department has designated a terrorist organization.” Is designated as.”
At the time, the WBUR report quoted Iyengar as saying, “We want to say this is a blatant violation of freedom of speech.”
He said the purpose of the magazine was to “tell in your own words what we’re doing, why we’re doing it and what’s happening on campus.”
WBUR reported that following the publication of the magazine’s October issue, “Iyengar said MIT barred him from entering the campus.”
In an email to Iyengar, “The Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards cited ‘a series of persistent behaviors’ including her essay, protests held outside a campus lab and sending it to graduate students and postdoctoral researchers working in the lab.” ,” the WBUR report said.
Iyengar was also suspended last year after pro-Palestinian demonstrations took place at US universities in the wake of the Israel-Hamas conflict.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
