MIT-- the Follow-Up

Two days ago, in my Saturday Miscellany post, I drew some attention to the actions of an MIT student, Megha Vemuri, the class president of the class of 2025, who took to the stage at a university ceremony to denounce the university as complicit with what she considered to be Israeli genocide in Palestine.

The speech provoked a walk-out of Israeli and Jewish students and family members.

That was the beginning, but not the end of the story. It has been reported fairly widely. For our purposes, we get the news from the New York Times.

One consequence for Vemuri was-- she and her family were barred from commencement. The Times reports:

The 2025 class president of M.I.T. was barred from a graduation ceremony on Friday after delivering a pro-Palestinian speech during a commencement event the day before. The student, Megha Vemuri, is the latest to face discipline after using a graduation as a forum to protest Israel’s war in Gaza.

And also:

School officials confirmed that they later told Ms. Vemuri that she was prohibited from attending the undergraduate ceremony on Friday.

Fox News reports MIT’s reaction to the speech:

"With regard to MIT’s Commencement 2025 activities, the speech delivered by a graduating senior at Thursday’s OneMIT Commencement Ceremony was not the one that was provided by the speaker in advance. While that individual had a scheduled role at today’s Undergraduate Degree Ceremony, she was notified that she would not be permitted at today’s events," 

Vemuri had submitted a draft of her remarks before delivering them. Unfortunately, she did not deliver what she had submitted, but went off script to denounce the university. To which MIT responded:

“MIT supports free expression but stands by its decision, which was in response to the individual deliberately and repeatedly misleading Commencement organizers and leading a protest from the stage,” a school spokesperson said in a statement.

Beyond the halls of academia, major political figures in Massachusetts remained silent. Nothing from Boston mayor Michelle Wu. Nothing from Massachusetts governor Maura Healey. You understand that they made manifest their qualifications to be girl bosses by standing up for illegal criminal migrants in their midst.

The Times points out one major national figure who spoke out strongly about the incident:

Ms. Vemuri’s speech prompted criticism from the House Speaker, Mike Johnson, a key ally of President Trump.

“Ignorant. Hateful. Morally bankrupt. Where is the shame—or appropriate response from the institution?” he wrote on X. “Have your children avoid MIT & the Ivy League at all costs.”