Two Jewish students have launched a blistering lawsuit against the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, accusing the prestigious university � and a tenured professor � of enabling a climate of antisemitic harassment so severe it forced one student to abandon his PhD.

Filed by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, the 71-page complaint outlines how linguistics professor Michel DeGraff allegedly waged a public campaign of intimidation and defamation against the students, while MIT administrators stood by in silence.

One plaintiff, IDF veteran and postdoctoral student Lior Alon, claims DeGraff doxxed him twice � publicly posting his name and photograph on social media and tagging Al Jazeera � after describing Alon as part of �Zionist propaganda.� DeGraff further singled out Alon in a Le Monde article, accusing him of working to erase �anti-Zionist Jewish students.� Alon says he was later harassed by strangers in public, including at his child�s daycare.

Alon emailed MIT President Sally Kornbluth pleading for help, warning that the doxxing had left him and his family fearing for their safety. Kornbluth never responded, the lawsuit states.

�Not only did President Kornbluth�s silence and MIT�s inaction cause harm to Alon, but MIT�s failure to act also emboldened Prof. DeGraff, and his harassment of Jews escalated as a result,� the suit claims.

DeGraff, a tenured faculty member, later launched a seminar titled �Language and Linguistics, from the River to the Sea in Palestine,� and circulated posts referring to Jewish �mind infection.�

The second plaintiff, PhD student William Sussman, says he raised concerns about the hateful rhetoric, only to be subjected to even more abuse. According to the lawsuit, DeGraff sent department-wide emails � copying in MIT�s president � describing Sussman as a living example of a �Jewish mind infection.�

On the same day, flyers using Hamas-inspired color schemes and directly targeting Sussman were slipped under dorm doors.

Unable to endure the threats and bigotry, Sussman ultimately left MIT before completing his PhD.

When Sussman filed a formal complaint, MIT�s investigations manager responded that the school would not pursue a discrimination case. The official concluded that DeGraff�s references to �mind infection� were not about Sussman being Jewish, but rather about his supposed views on Israeli propaganda. Sussman was told there would be no appeal.

The Brandeis Center said MIT�s failure to protect Jewish students amounted to a wholesale betrayal of its legal and moral responsibilities.

�Jews and Israelis on campus were prevented from fully engaging in their studies, their research, and the full spectrum of campus life,� the organization argued in a statement. �They have been forced out of their programs, off campus, and even out of the university entirely.�

Sussman, whose academic dreams were shattered, described Kornbluth�s leadership as part of a broader failure that echoes last year�s congressional hearings, where Kornbluth infamously testified that calls to eliminate the Jewish people could be antisemitic �depending on context.� Unlike her counterparts at Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, who resigned, Kornbluth kept her position.

�That tells you everything you need to know,� Sussman said.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)