Latest news with #LouisD.BrandeisCenterforHumanRightsUnderLaw
Boston Globe
28-07-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
MIT has stayed out of Trump's fight against elite colleges. Recent incidents could draw it back in.
All the elements are here for another high-profile confrontation — and it couldn't be happening at a more inopportune time. Advertisement 'There's no question that people in Washington are looking at MIT,' said Kenneth L. Marcus, chairman of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, which Kornbluth, who is Jewish, is yet again facing challenges to her leadership that also test the limits of free speech on campus, only this time President Trump is back in office. 'My central responsibility is to make sure that the work of the people of MIT continues, work that's central to America's health, wealth, and national security,' said Kornbluth, who has met with Washington officials, including Education Secretary Linda McMahon. MIT isn't immune to the whims and will of the White House, which is currently investigating the school's involvement with a higher education nonprofit as part of a widespread Advertisement But it has a unique vulnerability with its extensive relationship with the US Department of Defense: The school's That relationship also makes MIT uniquely valuable to the US government. And back in Cambridge, Kornbluth must navigate a delicate course managing an unwieldy range of constituencies. There are professors whose labs rely on defense funding, and protesters who claim MIT's contributions to technology are being misused by one of the US's allies, Israel. Even the pro-Palestinian movement on campus contains multitudes, including students who've lost family members in Gaza and Jewish allies who say the university is abetting mass violence in the Middle East. The rising activism has come along with a change in rhetoric that some see as increasingly extreme. Over the July Fourth weekend, vandals spray-painted 'Death to the IDF,' on the entrance to MIT's An outside group, Direct Action Movement for Palestinian Liberation, appeared to take credit for the tagging, and circulated a video accusing MIT professor Daniela Rus, who heads the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory inside the Stata Center, of being complicit in genocide. Kornbluth has repeatedly defended Rus, who did robotics research Advertisement But because serving in the nation's military is mandatory for Israeli citizens, the IDF graffiti also essentially targeted 'all of us' on campus, said Or Hen, an associate professor of physics from Jerusalem who estimates around 3 percent of faculty at MIT are from Israel. 'We have people on campus who fought in Gaza last year. We have people in reserve duty. So when they talk about death to soldiers ... we all did army service.' Rifts are resurfacing on campus, but positioning them as being between ethnic or religious groups is a 'false conflict,' said Jeremy Fleishhacker, a graduate student in plasma physics and member of The real divide is between school administrators and those pressuring them to cut 'problematic research connections' with Israel, Fleishhacker said and pointed to a An MIT spokesperson said the UN report contains 'mischaracterizations' that 'appear to be drawn from campus advocacy groups,' and noted that between fiscal years 2015 and 2024, MIT received less than $4 million in grants for individual research projects through the Israeli Ministry of Defense. Moreover, such research involves work that is 'open and publishable,' and not limited to a particular country, she added. FILE - MIT students and faculty protested outside campus in September 2024. Erin Clark/Globe Staff Kornbluth said in a Stata Center vandalism and will 'press for criminal charges.' That followed her Advertisement 'Of course it is legitimate to criticize the actions of any government,' Hen said he appreciates Kornbluth's 'extremely high' level of communication. But Mila Halgren, a postdoc in brain and cognitive sciences and member of the MIT Coalition for Palestine, says administrators are overly concerned with public messaging. In May, MIT 'They think that repression and punishment of students is going to quell people talking about Israeli military ties,' Halgren said. Others suggest MIT administrators don't seem concerned enough. Talia Khan, a PhD student in mechanical engineering and founder of the MIT Israel Alliance, said the Trump administration is making an example of Harvard for a reason, but school officials are failing to see that what's happening just 'down the road' can also happen to MIT. Now, with its lawsuit, the Brandeis Center is trying to pick up where the 2023 congressional hearings left off. 'MIT is significant because [Kornbluth] is the only university president from the congressional hearings who has apparently survived so far,' said Marcus. 'This case shows that antisemitism doesn't stop at the science quad.' The lead plaintiffs in the Brandeis Center's Advertisement The lawsuit claims MIT failed to address a 'hostile anti-Semitic environment on campus' after Hamas attacked Israel Oct. 7, 2023. It also named a tenured MIT professor of linguistics, Michel DeGraff, as a defendant. In fall 2024, DeGraff taught a seminar on language and power using his native Haiti as well as Palestine and Israel. Around that time, he posted on Instagram about a 'Zionist 'mind infection,'' which the lawsuit claims he linked to Jewish organizations such as Hillel. DeGraff said the accusation conflates anti-Zionism with antisemitism. When Sussman A university spokesperson said MIT 'rejects antisemitism' and will defend itself in court. In an email, DeGraff said the lawsuit's allegations 'are riddled with reality-bending lies, distortions, and mirror accusations,' which he sees as 'part of a larger settler-colonial Zionist campaign of obfuscation and intimidation that presents a major threat to academic freedom and freedom of expression, especially in the context of the plausibility of Israel's genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.' MIT had fended off a similar lawsuit related to the Gaza campus protests that was Advertisement The question this time around isn't just whether MIT can clear that bar again; for some, it's also whether clearing the bar is enough. 'Even if it turns out that MIT operated within the law,' said Ernest Fraenkel, Grover M. Hermann Professor in the Department of Biological Engineering, 'that doesn't mean it lived up to the standards that MIT would like to hold itself to.' Brooke Hauser can be reached at
Yahoo
30-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lawsuit: MIT professor harassed Israeli researcher, Jewish student as president stood by
Editor's note: This story was updated on June 25, 2025 at 3:20 p.m. to include a statement from MIT. A federal lawsuit filed against the Massachusetts Institute of Technology this week accuses a tenured professor of harassing an Israeli researcher and Jewish student, to the point where the student left the university. Meanwhile, the suit claims that MIT President Sally Kornbluth and other top administrators stood idly by. The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law — on behalf of Jewish students, researchers and faculty — filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts Wednesday accusing MIT of allowing faculty and students to cultivate 'an environment rife with anti-Semitism and fear.' The professor, Michel DeGraff, is also named as a defendant in the suit. The 71-page court filing claims MIT became a 'breeding ground for hatred' following the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel. It says students celebrated the terrorist attacks, urged violence against Jews and interrupted classes with antisemitic chants. Read more: 6 Mass. schools are under federal investigation for antisemitism. What are the claims? Students also urinated on the campus Hillel building, blocked Israelis and Jews from entering certain areas of campus, and distributed 'terror maps' promoting violence at campus locations deemed Jewish, the lawsuit claims. The Brandeis Center previously filed a similar lawsuit against Harvard University, which prompted the school to make changes in order to address antisemitism. The suit alleges that President Kornbluth 'emboldened' DeGraff, a then-tenured linguistics professor who publicly harassed a young Israeli researcher through the spring and fall of 2024. DeGraff posted the researcher's name with the context that he served in the Israeli Defense Forces — as all Israelis do — and shared images and videos that he edited on social media, at one point tagging Al Jazeera, according to the lawsuit. DeGraff then published an article in a popular European newspaper, Le Monde, about the researcher, the suit said. As a result of the professor's actions, the lawsuit claims, the researcher was confronted by strangers in various locations, including at his child's daycare and the grocery store. The lawsuit accuses Kornbluth of not taking action when the researcher emailed her expressing concerns for his safety and the safety of his family. Then, in November 2024, the lawsuit claims DeGraff 'relentlessly harassed a Jewish student in full view of President Kornbluth and top-level administrators' when he sent a series of mass emails accusing the student of having a Jewish 'mind infection' and threatening to use him as a 'real-life case study' in a class. According to the complaint, Kornbluth and the other administrators copied on the exchange remained silent. That same day, fliers were slipped under doors in a dormitory where the student had previously lived, targeting him specifically in white lettering on a green band — styled after Hamas headbands — advocating for violence against Jews, the lawsuit states. The student at one point contacted MIT Police seeking a restraining order. 'My mother is worried that he is going to get me killed,' he wrote in an email to police. The student ultimately left MIT before completing his PhD program as a result of the ongoing harassment, 'abandoning a dream and a promising career in computer science.' The alleged incidents involving DeGraff were previously reported on by conservative media websites Campus Reform and the Daily Wire. Last October, The Chronicle of Higher Education published a story about how DeGraff's request to teach a course about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict resulted in a department-wide clash. DeGraff has also claimed he's faced censorship and attacks for trying to teach about Palestine at MIT. In a statement, an MIT spokesperson said the university will defend itself in court against the allegations raised in the lawsuit. 'To be clear, MIT rejects antisemitism,' the spokesperson said. 'As President Kornbluth has said, 'Antisemitism is real, and it is rising in the world. We cannot let it poison our community.'' DeGraff did not immediately return a request for comment. An automated email response from DeGraff stated that he is no longer faculty at MIT Linguistics, and has since been 'removed' to instead be faculty at large in MIT's School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. 'I have very limited bandwidth over the summer to reply to email, especially media inquiries from bad-faith reporters,' the automated reply said. Harvard Kennedy's backup plan for foreign students: Study online, or in Canada Why a database of bug genes could be one of Trump's most devastating cuts at Harvard Data breach affecting over 75,000 people at UMass leads to lawsuit Judge rules Trump can't invoke national security powers to ban foreign Harvard students Harvard's Jewish faculty have their own wish list for a deal with Trump Read the original article on MassLive.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Zohran Mamdani spews antisemitic tropes, falsely claims taxpayers foot the bill for NY pols' Israel trips: Jewish activists
Democratic socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is being accused of spewing antisemitic tropes — after he falsely claimed taxpayers were footing the bill for New York lawmakers' trips to Israel. Jewish advocates railed that the Queens state Assembly member was insinuating Jewish pols were swindling New Yorkers to benefit Israel at their expense. 'The danger that Mamdani poses to Jewish freedom in New York City is palpable,' fumed Queens Councilman Rory Lancman, a senior counsel at the non-profit Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law. Mamdani, 33, made the bogus claim in recently resurfaced video from a May 11, 2021, pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protest, where he also led chants of 'BDS' — supporting the economic boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against the Jewish state. 'We have elected officials paid for trips to Israel,' he said in the clip posted on his Facebook page, which came back to light Sunday — hours before the Salute to Israel Day parade in Manhattan. 'They are going there paid for by your tax dollars,' Mamdani said. 'They show up at the Israel Day parade and they say, 'We stand in solidarity,'' he went on. 'We want to let them know that there are three letters that we have as an answer to what is happening in Palestine. It's BDS.' But the trips taken by state legislators and city council members are sponsored and paid for by the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York via philanthropic dollars, said JCRC CEO Mark Treyger, the grandson of Holocaust survivors. He called Mamdani's inaccurate claim 'insulting and deeply offensive,' and slammed the lefty pol's run for mayor as 'one of the most divisive citywide campaigns in modern New York history.' 'Many Jewish New Yorkers are still outraged that Mamdani spent hours sipping espresso with hate influencer Hasan Piker, who has referred to Jews as bloodthirsty pig dogs,' Treyger said, referring to an interview Mamdani did with the controversial left-wing Twitch streamer. Lancman, of the non-profit human rights group Brandeis Center, alleged that Mamdani was peddling antisemitism under the guise of his pro-Palestinian advocacy. 'Mamdani's hatred of the Jewish state and Jewish self-determination is deep-rooted antisemitism, allowing his advocacy to seamlessly blend anti-Israelism with antisemitic tropes — whether it's that Israel is the reason America isn't spending enough on affordable housing, or that Jews are stealing taxpayer money to fund trips to Israel,' Lancman told The Post. Ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the Democratic frontrunner for mayor, was asked on Bari Weiss' podcast Tuesday whether he thought Mamdani was antisemitic. He stopped short of saying that. 'I'm being kind. Antisemite. You have to look into somebody's soul and look at their motivation. But the position he has taken vis-à-vis Israel is radically hostile,' Cuomo said. Mamdani is running second behind Cuomo, 67, in recent Democratic mayoral primary polls, and even leading among voters under 45. The Mamdani campaign declined to directly respond to the accusation that he was peddling an antisemitic trope by saying lawmakers were soaking up taxpayer dollars to visit Israel. 'Zohran is committed to combating antisemitism—including through the largest fiscal commitment to hate crime prevention of any candidate—and making this city safe and affordable for every New Yorker,' said Mamdani campaign spokesman Andrew Epstein. Last week, Mamdani drew flak for refusing to sign onto a pair of resolutions recognizing Israel and the Holocaust. Critics ripped the mayoral hopeful as having 'no business representing the largest Jewish community outside of Israel.' He said he voted for the Holocaust resolution. Mamdani also has received the endorsement of anti-Israel ex-'Squad' Rep. Jamaal Bowman. The assemblyman previously introduced the controversial 'Not On Our Dime Act' that would bar New York non-profits from bankrolling any groups involved with West Bank settlements. His father, Mahmood Mamdani, went even further, and called for the end of the Jewish state. 'The Palestinian challenge is to persuade the Jewish population and the world … the longtime security of a Jewish homeland in historic Palestine requires the dismantling of the Jewish state,' Mahmood Mandani said during a 2014 speech at Columbia. 'Jews can have a homeland in historic Palestine, but not a state.' The ranked-choice primary is June 24. Early voting is scheduled to begin June 14 and will go for nine days prior to the election.
New York Post
20-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Zhoran Mamdani spews antisemitic tropes, falsely claims taxpayers foot the bill for NY pols' Israel trips
Democratic socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is being accused of spewing antisemitic tropes — after he falsely claimed taxpayers were footing the bill for New York lawmakers' trips to Israel. Jewish advocates railed that the Queens state Assembly member was insinuating Jewish pols were swindling New Yorkers to benefit Israel at their expense. 'The danger that Mamdani poses to Jewish freedom in New York City is palpable,' fumed Queens Councilman Rory Lancman, a senior counsel at the non-profit Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law. 5 Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has been accused of spreading an antisemitic trope after falsely claiming that taxpayers are paying for New York politicians to take trips to Israel. LP Media Mamdani, 33, made the bogus claim in recently resurfaced video from a May 11, 2021 pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protest, where he also led chants of 'BDS' – supporting the economic boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against the Jewish state. 'We have elected officials paid for trips to Israel,' he said in the clip posted on his Facebook page, which came back to light Sunday — hours before the Salute to Israel Day parade in Manhattan. 'They are going there paid for by your tax dollars,' Mamdani said. 'They show up at the Israel Day parade and they say, 'We stand in solidarity,'' he went on. 'We want to let them know that there are three letters that we have as an answer to what is happening in Palestine. It's BDS.' 5 Mamdani made the claim at a 2021 anti-Israel protest. Facebook/Zohran Mamdani 5 Mamdani urged the crowd to support the 'Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions' movement against Israel. Facebook/Zohran Mamdani But the trips taken by state legislators and city council members are sponsored and paid for by the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York via philanthropic dollars, said JCRC CEO Mark Treyger, the grandson of Holocaust survivors. He called Mamdani's inaccurate claim 'insulting and deeply offensive,' and slammed the lefty pol's run for mayor as 'one the most divisive citywide campaigns in modern New York history.' 'Many Jewish New Yorkers are still outraged that Mamdani spent hours sipping espresso with hate influencer Hasan Piker, who has referred to Jews as bloodthirsty pig dogs,' Treyger said, referring to an interview Mamdani did with the controversial left-wing Twitch streamer. 5 The New York lawmakers' trips to Israel are sponsored and paid for by the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, according to the organization's CEO Mark Treyger. Stefan Jeremiah Lancman, of the non-profit human rights group Brandeis Center, alleged that Mamdani was peddling antisemitism under the guise of his pro-Palestinian advocacy. 'Mamdani's hatred of the Jewish state and Jewish self-determination is deep-rooted antisemitism, allowing his advocacy to seamlessly blend anti-Israelism with antisemitic tropes — whether it's that Israel is the reason America isn't spending enough on affordable housing, or that Jews are stealing taxpayer money to fund trips to Israel,' Lancman told The Post. 5 Queens Councilman Rory Lancman accused Mamdani of posing a threat to Jewish freedom in New York City. Erik Thomas/NY Post Ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the Democratic frontrunner for mayor, was asked on Bari Weiss' podcast Tuesday whether he thought Mamdani was antisemitic. He stopped short of saying that. 'I'm being kind. Antisemite. You have to look into somebody's soul and look at their motivation. But the position he has taken vis a vis Israel is radically hostile,' Cuomo said. Mamdani is running second behind Cuomo, 67, in recent Democratic mayoral primary polls, and even leading among voters under 45. The Mamdani campaign declined to directly respond to the accusation that he was peddling an antisemitic trope by saying lawmakers were soaking up taxpayer dollars to visit Israel. 'Zohran is committed to combating antisemitism—including through the largest fiscal commitment to hate crime prevention of any candidate—and making this city safe and affordable for every New Yorker,' said Mamdani campaign spokesman Andrew Epstein. Last week, Mamdani drew flack for refusing to sign onto a pair of resolutions recognizing Israel and the Holocaust. Critics ripped the mayoral hopeful as having 'no business representing the largest Jewish community outside of Israel.' He said he voted for the Holocaust resolution. Mamdani also has received the endorsement of anti-Israel ex-'Squad' Rep. Jamaal Bowman. The assemblyman previously introduced the controversial 'Not On Our Dime Act' that would bar New York non-profits from bankrolling any groups involved with West Bank settlements. His father, Mahmood Mamdani, went even further, and called for the end of the Jewish state. 'The Palestinian challenge is to persuade the Jewish population and the world … the longtime security of a Jewish homeland in historic Palestine requires the dismantling of the Jewish state,' Mahmood Mandani said during a 2014 speech at Columbia. 'Jews can have a homeland in historic Palestine, but not a state.' The ranked-choice primary is June 24. Early voting is scheduled to begin June 14 and will go for nine days prior to the election.
