MIT PhD student suspended until 2026 over Pro-Palestinian activism

Due to his pro-Palestinian advocacy, an Indian-origin PhD student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has been suspended until January 2026. The student is currently challenging the university's decision.

The MIT Coalition Against Apartheid posted on X that Prahlad Iyengar, a National Science Foundation (NSF) fellow, had been "suspended until January 2026."

According to the organization, this suspension will significantly disrupt Prahlad's academic career, effectively ending his five-year NSF scholarship.

Prahlad, a PhD student in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department, is now appealing the decision to the MIT Chancellor, with Dec. 11 being his "last opportunity to end this persecution and restore academic dignity," as stated in the post.

This decision is the harshest of several sanctions imposed on Prahlad for speech-related actions, including an article he wrote for the student-run zine Written Revolution, which explored the role of pacifism in the pro-Palestinian movement.

The organization argued, "This suspension is, in practice, an expulsion, as his readmission is entirely contingent upon approval from the same Committee on Discipline that handed down this harsh sanction."

Prahlad has filed an appeal with the Chancellor to "revoke or reduce" the "unjust sanctions" imposed on him.

The MIT Coalition Against Apartheid has launched a campaign to "put pressure on MIT's administration to stop criminalizing students who stand on the right side of history" and called for support from other universities.

The organization demands that the MIT administration reinstate Prahlad by Dec. 11 and reported that over 100 people have urged Cambridge city councillors to intervene in MIT’s suppression of pro-Palestinian student activism.

Immigration lawyer Eric Lee criticized the decision, stating on X that it was a "major blow to free speech everywhere," and argued that MIT’s administration, due to its ties with war profiteers, does not tolerate pro-Palestinian rhetoric.

He warned that this decision could set a precedent for future attacks on free speech.

According to a Nov. 14 report from WBUR, Boston's NPR news station, about 100 MIT students protested on campus following the university's decision to ban the distribution of Written Revolution, which was described as a pro-Palestinian student-run journal.

The magazine included an article, "On Pacifism," written by Prahlad, who was also an editor of the publication.

MIT officials raised concerns over the language and imagery in the article, which they argued could be seen as advocating violent protest.

The article also featured an image containing the logo of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a group designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department.

Prahlad said at the time, "We want to say this is a gross violation of free speech," explaining that the purpose of the magazine was to "express, in our own words, what we were doing, why we were doing it, and what was happening on campus."

Following the publication of the magazine's October issue, MIT barred Prahlad from campus.

The Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards cited "a series of continuing behaviors," including his essay, a protest outside a campus lab, and an email sent to graduate students and postdoctoral researchers working in the lab.

Prahlad had also been suspended the previous year after pro-Palestinian protests erupted across U.S. campuses in the wake of the Israel-Hamas conflict.