Indian-origin student’s pro-Palestine essay bars him from MIT; decision sparks debate

An Indian-origin student has been barred from entering the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus over a pro-Palestine essay he wrote weeks ago.

Prahlad Iyengar was pursuing a PhD from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT. Now, the institute has decided to terminate his five-year National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, sparking a huge ‘freedom of speech’ debate.

The essay, which, according to the institute, called for violence, was featured in the college magazine Written Revolution.

As per reports, the magazine has also been banned.

Iyengar’s essay, titled ‘On Pacifism’, has been reviewed as a piece that says pacifist tactics might not be the best recourse for Palestine. The Commune Magazine, however, didn’t deem it calling for violent resistance directly.

Sharing his take on the issue, the Indian-origin student said: “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.”

The statement was shared by Iyengar’s lawyer Eric Lee on X.

MIT suspends student & bans student publication for article opposing Gaza genocide, claims article supports “terrorism.”

Read this statement from my client Prahlad Iyengar detailing the facts of this chilling attack on free speech. Now more than ever we must defend 1st Am!

1/4 pic.twitter.com/eYk7CiBEcY

— Eric Lee (@EricLeeAtty) November 8, 2024

As per an email received by the magazine’s editors from MIT Dean of Student Life, David Warren Randall, the essay used language that “could be interpreted as a call for more violent or destructive forms of protests at MIT”.

This is also not the first time Iyengar has had a run-in with the institute. He was suspended in 2023 following a pro-Palestine demonstrations.

“These extraordinary actions should concern everyone on camp,” Iyengar said 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.”

Meanwhile, the student has received support from the MIT Coalition Against Apartheid.

“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 editor of Written Revolution, Prahlad Iyengar, speaks to Aljazeera about MIT’s repression of free speech. pic.twitter.com/zWKIGlCzd4

— MIT Coalition Against Apartheid (@mit_caa) November 23, 2024

According to a report in The Boston Globe, the president of MIT Graduate Student Union, Sophie Coppieters’t Wallant said, “The fact that MIT is choosing to threaten student livelihood and careers simply because they don’t agree with what students are speaking up and protesting for is unacceptable.”

The coalition also held a rally in Iyengar’s support at the Cambridge City Hall on December 9.