MIT Class President Highlights Palestine, Urges Arms Embargo

Photo: MIT/screengrab

India-West News Desk

CAMBRIDGE, MA – On May 30, Megha Vemuri, president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Class of 2025, dedicated her commencement address to the Palestinian cause. Her remarks, delivered while wearing a red keffiyeh draped over her graduation robe, sharply criticized both the Israeli government and MIT’s ties to the Israeli military.

Vemuri, a native of Alpharetta, Georgia, accused Israel of trying to “wipe Palestine off the face of the earth” and charged MIT with being “complicit” through its ongoing research partnerships with the Israel Defense Forces. “MIT’s name is directly complicit in the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people,” she declared, urging her fellow graduates to advocate for humanitarian aid, push for an arms embargo, and demand that the university sever ties with foreign military entities.

Her speech underscored months of student-led protests on the MIT campus calling for institutional divestment from military collaborations, particularly those involving Israel.

MIT President Sally Kornbluth responded immediately after Vemuri’s remarks. Acknowledging the right to free expression, she reminded the audience of the day’s significance. “Today is about the graduates,” Kornbluth said. “There is a time and a place to express yourselves, and you will have many, many years to do it.”

Vemuri’s speech sparked a wave of both praise and backlash from academic institutions and political commentators.