MIT suspends Indian-origin student for pro-Palestine essay, bans magazine

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has barred an Indian-origin PhD scholar from entering his college campus over a pro-Palestine essay he wrote in the college magazine last month. Prahlad Iyengar was suspended till January 2026. This, many believe, could effectively end his academic career at MIT as it would terminate his five-year National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. The essay Iyengar wrote was published in Written Revolution, a multidisciplinary student magazine about the pro-Palestine movement, and the MIT found it calling for violence. Tha magazine has also been banned.

Reacting to the suspension, Iyengar stated that it highlighted the larger issue of freedom of speech on American campuses.

The MIT has said Iyengar’s language in the article could be interpreted as calling for violent protests on the campus.

Iyengar is pursuing a PhD from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

This is the second time Iyengar has been suspended.

He was suspended last year following the pro-Palestine demonstrations.

The MIT Coalition Against Apartheid has started a protest against the MIT’s decision.

“After public backlash against Prahlad’s campus ban due to an article about the pro-Palestine movement, MIT pivoted to suspending Prahlad on charges that have been resolved as informal warnings in similar scenarios,” wrote MIT Coalition Against Apartheid on X.

Iyengar has been punished for his article ‘On Pacifism’ that appeared in the October issue of the magazine.

The college found the essay had language that “could be interpreted as a call for more violent or destructive forms of protests at MIT”, according to an email sent by the MIT Dean of Student Life, David Warren Randall, to the magazine’s editors.

The email also mentioned images in the articles which had a logo of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which is a terrorist organisation, according to the US State Department.

IMAGES OF TERRORIST ORGANISATION IN MIT MAGAZINE ESSAY

In the article, Iyengar does not directly call for violent resistance but believes that pacifist tactics might not be the best course for Palestine, according to The Commune Magazine.

Iyengar said the charges against him of “supporting terrorism” were because of the photos accompanying his essay, which were not provided by him.

“The administration accuses me of supporting ‘terrorism’, because the edition in which my article appears includes images of posters from the Popular Front for the Liberation and of containing violent imagery in the publication,” he wrote in a statement shared by his lawyer Eric Lee on X.

Iyegar called his suspension an “extraordinary action”.

“These extraordinary actions should concern everyone on camp,” he says in the statement. “Expelling me and banning Written Revolution from campus as a result of this article would mark an unprecedented attack on the rights of the entire student body and faculty. Consider the precedent MIT has set.”

“MIT accuses me of terrorism but how far will this label be applied?” he asked.

MIT BANS STUDENTS’ PRO-PALESTINE MAGAZINE

But Iyengar is not the only one who has faced consequences. The editors of the magazine have also faced them.

The magazine has been banned.

The aim of the magazine was to “put out in our words, what we were doing, why we were doing it and what was happening on campus,” Iyengar told WBUR, a Boston-based radio channel.

The MIT Coalition Against Apartheid said Iyengar’s suspension is effectively his expulsion as he will be reinstated by the same panel which suspended him.

“Prahlad is now appealing his case with the Chancellor to reduce the unjust sanctions against him. We have launched a campaign to put pressure on MIT’s administration to stop criminalising students who stand on the right side of history. We call on all organisations and institutions of conscience to sign up and stand up to MIT’s repression,” said the coalition in a statement.

The coalition also held an emergency rally in support of Iyengar on December 9 in Cambridge City Hill.