MIT Sued Over Alleged Failure to Protect Jewish and Israeli Students from Antisemitism
June 25, 2025 | Cambridge, MA — The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is facing a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, accusing the university of permitting a hostile antisemitic environment on campus that discriminated against Jewish and Israeli students. The suit claims MIT’s failure to enforce its own policies and uphold federal civil rights laws led to harassment, retaliation, and a breakdown of equal educational opportunities.
Filed by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, the lawsuit names MIT and Professor Michel DeGraff, a tenured linguist, as defendants. The plaintiffs are Lior Alon, a Jewish Israeli post-doctoral associate who currently teaches math at MIT, and William Sussman, a Jewish-American former Ph.D. candidate who ultimately left the university due to the alleged harassment and threats he faced.
According to the complaint, Alon was repeatedly targeted by DeGraff on social media throughout 2024, with posts circulating personal videos and details about Alon’s service in the Israeli military. When Alon reached out to MIT President Sally Kornbluth requesting action and expressing concerns for his family’s safety, the lawsuit claims he received no reply and no protective measures were taken.
Sussman’s departure from MIT followed an email in which DeGraff allegedly accused him of representing a Zionist “mind infection,” a statement the suit characterizes as antisemitic in nature. The email was shared with Kornbluth and other senior administrators, but no disciplinary action followed, the lawsuit alleges. The resulting threats and pressure, according to the suit, forced Sussman to abandon his doctoral studies.
The plaintiffs are seeking a declaratory judgment stating that MIT’s inaction constitutes a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in federally funded institutions. They are also seeking financial compensation for emotional distress and, in Sussman’s case, lost future earnings.
“These incidents are emblematic of a larger problem on the MIT campus where antisemitism has been permitted to take root and fester in the absence of leadership and accountability,” the suit states. It further alleges that after the Hamas-led October 7 attack on Israel, antisemitic hostility escalated across campus and was ignored by administrators, creating a climate in which even tenured faculty felt emboldened to “persecute Jews without consequence.”
The lawsuit follows similar legal action taken against other elite universities. Earlier this year, Harvard University reached a settlement in related lawsuits brought by the Brandeis Center. As part of that agreement, Harvard adopted several new measures to address antisemitism, including the use of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism when evaluating complaints. Critics of the IHRA framework argue it risks conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism, but Harvard’s move was seen as a landmark shift in campus policy.
MIT President Sally Kornbluth, who was among four university leaders summoned to testify before Congress in December 2023 on antisemitism in higher education, is the only one from that group who has not resigned under pressure. The suit places significant focus on her administration’s alleged inaction in the face of documented complaints.
The case comes at a time of heightened scrutiny of how universities handle discrimination and student safety amid geopolitical tensions. With antisemitic incidents reportedly on the rise at institutions across the country, the outcome of the MIT lawsuit may have wide-reaching implications for campus policy and university accountability nationwide.
