MIT Sued by Student, Instructor Claiming Campus Antisemitism

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology was sued by an instructor and a former student who claim the school’s administration failed to address a “hostile anti-Semitic environment” on campus following the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Israel by Hamas.

Lior Alon, a Jewish Israeli mathematics instructor, and William Sussman, a Jewish former PhD student, sued the Cambridge-based research university in Boston federal court Wednesday. They accused MIT of failing to respond to a “surge” of hatred, making it difficult for them to participate in campus life and depriving them of educational and professional opportunities.

“These incidents are emblematic of a larger problem on the MIT campus where antisemitism has been permitted to take root and fester in the absence of leadership and accountability,” according to their complaint.

MIT spokesperson Sarah McDonnell said the university would defend itself against the allegations in court. “To be clear, MIT rejects antisemitism,” McDonnell said, citing statements by MIT President Sally Kornbluth shortly after the Hamas attack in 2023. “Antisemitism is real, and it is rising in the world,” Kornbluth said in a video address at the time. “We cannot let it poison our community.”

The lawsuit comes as the Trump administration has targeted elite universities over claims of antisemitism and their response to campus protests following the Hamas attacks and Israel’s war in Gaza. Hamas is designated a terrorist organization by the US and the European Union.

In a high-profile battle, Harvard University is fighting President Donald Trump in court after the administration froze billions in funds to the university and blocked it from enrolling international students. The Trump administration’s actions are rooted in its charge that Harvard has “failed to condemn antisemitism.”

Alon and Sussman are seeking a court order forcing MIT to enforce its non-discrimination and harassment policies against antisemitic conduct. They’re backed by the Louis D. Brandeis Center Coalition to Combat antisemitism, which is also a plaintiff in the suit.

Alon is also suing for defamation, claiming an MIT professor conducted a false, online “smear campaign” against him, which he claims led to “aggressive” public confrontations, and that the MIT administration failed to take action to enforce university rules.

The case is: Sussman v. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 25-cv-11826, US District Court, District of Massachusetts (Boston).

Photo: Pro-Palestinian demonstrators at an encampment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. Campuses across the US have been grappling with pro-Palestinian protests and counter demonstrations since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas.