MIT Students Mass-Exit As Graduation Speaker Goes On Gaza ‘Genocide’ Rant

MIT barred its student president from Friday’s graduation ceremony after she used her platform to accuse the institution of complicity in Israel’s war in Gaza – prompting a mass walkout of students.

Megha M. Vemuri, elected president of the Class of 2025, was scheduled to deliver a speech at Thursday’s OneMIT event, an umbrella ceremony preceding the formal awarding of degrees. But Vemuri reportedly veered from her submitted script and launched into a charged denunciation of MIT’s relationship with Israel, accusing it of enabling a “genocide.”

“The Israeli occupation forces are the only foreign military that MIT has research ties with. This means that Israel’s assault on the Palestinian people is not only aided and abetted by our country, but our school. As scientists, engineers, academics, and leaders, we have a commitment to support life. Support aid efforts and call for an arms embargo and keep demanding now as alumni that MIT cuts the ties,” she said.

“We are watching Israel try to wipe Palestine off the face of the earth,” she said to a crowd of peers, families, and faculty. “And it is a shame that MIT is a part of it.”

The remarks split the crowd, with audible boos clashing with cheers. Some students walked out mid-speech while others chanted “shame.” One attendee waved a Palestinian flag before being escorted away by security.

A graduating Israeli student, who spoke anonymously to Fox News Digital, said: “All the Jewish families, not only the Israelis, stepped out and left the ceremony. MIT administration approved and supported that.”

Vemuri hailed classmates for their campus activism in the months since the October 7 Hamas attack and Israel’s military response, commending them for facing “threats, intimidation and suppression” from university officials.

“But you prevailed,” she added. “Because the MIT community that I know would never tolerate a genocide.”

A statement from MIT issued after the event confirmed Vemuri had been removed from the undergraduate degree ceremony lineup for misleading event organizers and using her speaking role to “lead a protest from the stage, disrupting an important Institute ceremony.”

MIT, the statement added, “supports free expression” but stood by its decision.