MIT to effectively expel PhD student Prahlad Iyengar

by the MIT Coalition Against Apartheid, 9 December 2024
Original here.

• Prahlad Iyengar, an MIT PhD student, faces suspension until 2026, effectively ending his NSF fellowship and putting his future at MIT in limbo, for pro-Palestinian activism on campus.
• After public backlash against Prahlad's campus ban due to an article about the pro-Palestine movement, MIT pivoted to suspending Prahlad on charges that have been resolved as informal warnings in similar scenarios.
• MIT's Committee on Discipline has violated free speech
  and procedural fairness expediting his case with little to no evidence and connecting several cases.
• An appeal to the Chancellor scheduled for Wednesday December 11 is his last chance for justice.

Prahlad Iyengar is now appealing his case with the Chancellor to revoke or reduce the unjust sanctions against him. We have launched a campaign to put pressure on MIT'S administration to stop criminalizing students who stand on the right side of history. We call on all organizations and institutions of conscience to sign on and stand up to MIT's repression.

Instead of addressing this as a matter of free expression, or listening to their own faculty. and the call from academics in Middle Eastern studies, MIT's administration and the COD have bent to external political pressure. The COD lumped Prahlad's case with another ongoing disciplinary case to paint Prahlad as a"repeat offender",", but suddenly and arbitrarily split the case into two parts after facing significant public criticism for violating his free speech. They sidelined the costly part of the case that suppresses Prahlad's freedom of speech and focused their attack on less flashy charges, which have been resolved as informal warnings in similar scenarios. In making such drastic changes to the process arbitrarily and without precedent, the COD has denied Prahlad procedural fairness.These actions demonstrate a troubling abuse of power, wherein disciplinary procedures have been weaponized for political purposes.

MIT PhD student and National Science Foundation (NSF) fellow Prahlad lyengar has been suspended until January 2026, effectively terminating his 5-year NSF fellowship and severely disrupting his academic career. This suspension is, in practice, an expulsion, as his readmission is entirely contingent upon approval from the same Committee on Discipline (COD) that handed down this harsh sanction. Prahlad is now appealing the decision to the Chancellor at MIT on December 11, the last opportunity to end this persecution and restore academic dignity. This decision is the harshest among several sanctions resulting from speech-related activities, including an article Prahlad wrote for the student-run zine Written Revolution, which engaged in debate about the role of pacifism in the pro-Palestine movement.