A new lawsuit alleges widespread MIT anti-Semitism, claiming the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ignored harassment against an Israeli postdoctoral researcher before ultimately firing him “because he is Jewish and Israeli.”
The amended complaint, filed Wednesday by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, says students “began tormenting and shunning him based on his Jewish and Israeli identity,” while his supervising professor “vilified [Doe] in front of students,” assigned him menial tasks, and eventually terminated his contract. Doe’s pleas to administrators, including MIT president Sally Kornbluth, went unanswered.
The allegations describe a hostile campus environment. In May 2024, masked protesters pushed Doe against a wall and shouted, “Who are you? What are you doing here?” He later emailed Kornbluth with the subject line, “I don’t feel safe anymore at MIT,” but received no reply, the complaint states.
The suit also claims students mocked his heritage, saying “Zionists control the world,” and referred to him as “a postdoc from Palestine.” One student allegedly kept a list of Jewish students and asked if Doe’s wife was Jewish, remarking, “Her nose looks Jewish so she is probably Jewish.”
The case comes amid a House Education and Workforce Committee investigation into MIT after reports that anti-Israel demonstrators harassed Jewish students and vandalized campus property. MIT spokeswoman Kimberly Allen said the school “will vigorously defend itself in court.”
Brandeis Center chairman Kenneth L. Marcus accused the university of enabling hostility. “MIT has had countless opportunities to stop this harassment and protect their Israeli and Jewish students and faculty,” he said. “Instead, anti-Semitism has only worsened at MIT – an outcome made possible by the administration’s continued negligence.”
