A statement from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) this week explaining why the school did not follow through on its threat to suspend students involved in anti-Semitic hate events on campus said that the school was concerned the students could be deported.
MIT President Sally Kornbluth issued a warning after Jewish and Israeli students said that they were scared for their physical safety and were prevented from going to class because an anti-Semitic event, which started early Thursday morning, was being held in a highly-trafficked area.
Kornbluth said that faculty had “serious concerns” that violence could erupt after counter protesters showed up to voice their opinion.
“After exhausting all other avenues for de-escalating the situation, we informed all protesters that they must leave the lobby area within a set time, or they would be subject to suspension,” she wrote. “Many chose to leave, and I appreciate their cooperation. Some did not. Members of my team have been in dialogue with students all day. Because we later heard serious concerns about collateral consequences for the students, such as visa issues, we have decided, as an interim action, that the students who remained after the deadline will be suspended from non-academic campus activities. The students will remain enrolled at MIT and will be able to attend academic classes and labs.”
Haaretz noted that, according to MIT, one-third of its student population is comprised of foreign nationals who are in the U.S. on visas.
The report said that there had been “considerable speculation” that “many of the students at the forefront of the anti-Israel protests on campuses across the country are not U.S. citizens” and that the statement from MIT about not wanting to suspend students because it could result in their deportation was confirmation that at least some of that speculation is accurate.
A video also went viral this week showing a pro-Palestinian protester disrupting a math class to scream “Free Palestine!”
This is a math class this morning at @MIT. This is the state of learning and ‘free speech’ at our top universities. It would not be happening without a failure leadership at MIT.
Imagine being a student who borrowed $250k to attend MIT or a professor who is trying to do… pic.twitter.com/w8C6Y6i3SU
— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) November 10, 2023
During the Republican presidential primary this week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis — who ordered public universities in his state to disband an extremist pro-Palestinian student group — doubled down on his call to deport his foreign students who expressed any kind of support for Hamas.
“I was the first presidential candidate to say if you are here on a student visa as a foreign national, you’re making common cause with Hamas, I’m canceling your visa and I’m sending you home, no questions asked,” he said. “As president, I can tell you this, we are not going to stand for this on college campuses any longer.”
Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) also took a strong stance against pro-Hamas students, saying that he would also deport those students.
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“To every student who’ve come to our country on a visa to a college campus, your visa is a privilege, not a right,” he said. “To all the students on visas who are encouraging Jewish genocide, I would deport you from those campuses.”
Former President Donald Trump also took a similar stance in remarks while speaking in Iowa last month, saying that he would “revoke the student visas of radical anti-American and anti-Semitic foreigners at our colleges and universities and we will send them straight back home.”
Related: Ivy League School Shuts Down Anti-Semitic Palestinian Student Groups