An MIT student disrupted a math lecture by shouting “free, free Palestine” and accusing the prestigious university, Israel and the US of “perpetuating genocide.”
Recorded footage of the lecture captured the dramatic moment when a Massachusetts Institute of Technology student stood up in front of an audience of classmates to express his support for Palestine.
The demonstration on Wednesday morning was in response to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, which has left more than 10,000 Gazans dead in retaliation for the October 7 terror attack on Israel. On Friday, Israel estimated the number of civilians dead at 1,200, and the number of civilians kidnapped at more than 200.
Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, 57, shared the video and lambasted MIT for a “failure of leadership.”
The student stood up to interrupt the math teacher – who politely asked if the disruption could wait until he had finished explaining a math problem, and said, “Can I just finish this line?”
An MIT student disrupted a math lecture by shouting “free, free Palestine” and accusing the prestigious university, Israel and the US of “perpetuating genocide”
Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, 57, shared the video and slammed MIT for a ‘failure of leadership’
When the teacher finished – the student protester said ‘as you witness an ongoing genocide of Gaza in the silence of MIT – I join hundreds of students walking out of class across the city,
“We stand up for the liberation of Palestine against the active genocide perpetuated by MIT, Israel and the United States.”
The student then grabbed a Palestinian flag and joined his fellow demonstrators in chanting “free, free Palestine.”
Ackman – CEO of Pershing Square – shared the recording on X (formerly known as Twitter), saying: “This is a math class this morning at MIT. This is the state of affairs in the field of knowledge and ‘freedom of expression’ at our top universities. This wouldn’t happen without leadership failure at MIT.
“Imagine you’re a student who borrowed $250,000 to go to MIT, or a professor trying to do research in this environment.”
An MIT student responded to the tweet, wondering if it was MIT — because they reportedly didn’t have class on Friday — when Ackman shared the post — but he corrected himself and explained that the video was from Wednesday.
Users on and another said: ‘He waited patiently for the instructor to finish and gave him permission. It’s not like they’re storming the classroom.”
The MIT disruption comes amid a wave of university protests from both sides in response to the war between Israel and Hamas.
The student protester said: ‘As you witness an ongoing genocide of Gaza in the silence of MIT, I join hundreds of students walking out of class across the city’
The MIT disruption comes amid a wave of university protests from both sides in response to the war between Israel and Hamas
On Friday, Columbia University in New York City suspended student groups Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) after unauthorized campus protests left students feeling threatened and intimidated.
The two student organizations have been suspended as official student groups until the end of the fall semester.
Columbia’s senior executive vice president and chairman of the Special Committee on Campus Safety Gerald Rosberg announced the news in a statement Friday afternoon.
“This decision was made after the two groups repeatedly violated university policy regarding the holding of campus events, culminating in an unauthorized event Thursday afternoon that went ahead despite warnings and included threatening rhetoric and intimidation,” said Rosberg, who is also president of Columbia’s Special Committee. about campus safety.
SJP is a network of pro-Palestinian student groups in the US that spread anti-Israel propaganda, often mixed with anti-emetic, provocative and sometimes violent messages.
JVP is an anti-Zionist group that supports the international boycott movement against Israel.
18 protesters from BrownU Jews for Ceasefire Now were arrested Wednesday night for trespassing
About 20 students entered University Hall around 12:15 p.m. to call on Brown President Christina Paxson to agree to divest companies that profited from the war
On Wednesday, police arrested at least 18 Brown University students who staged a sit-in protest at the school president’s office demanding the institution be divested of companies profiting from Israel’s war.
The students were arrested Wednesday evening for entering the school’s main building, University Hall, Brown University said in a statement.
Video showed handcuffed students being led to Providence Police transport vans as dozens of protesters outside the building chanted in support of the group.
“Brown issued multiple trespass warnings and ultimately proceeded to arrest 18 individuals for refusing to leave a campus building where their after-hours presence posed safety risks,” the university said.
The group, BrownU Jews for now ceasefiresaid twenty students were arrested during the rally for calling on their school to promote a ceasefire in Israel’s Hamas war.