MIT Says It Won’t Suspend Disruptive Anti-Israel Students Because of Potential Deportation

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) won’t suspend certain students for their actions during an anti-Israel protest because the students could be forced to leave the country, the prestigious engineering school said. In response to a persistent protest that led to the shutdown of a main lobby on its campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for several hours on the morning of Nov. 7, MIT initially warned the many students who refused to disperse that they could jeopardize their place in the school. The protest was organized by the anti-Israel group Coalition Against Apartheid, in violation of an MIT rule that such events may only be conducted in outdoor spaces. The event attracted a group of counterprotesters. The face-to-face confrontation between the two groups “intensified” later in the morning, prompting MIT administrators to block doors in the lobby and advise Jewish students that they stay away from the area for their own safety....