NEW DELHI: When Megha Vemuri denounced the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for ties to Israel’s military, she was barred from the university’s graduation — an incident that resonated in her ancestral India, where students say she inspires them to stand up for Palestinian liberation.
The Indian-American class president of 2025, Vemuri addressed an MIT commencement ceremony last week.
“Right now, while we prepare to graduate and move forward with our lives, there are no universities left in Gaza. We are watching Israel try to wipe Palestine off the face of the earth. And it is a shame that MIT is a part of it,” she said, wearing a keffiyeh over her gown.
Without naming Vemuri, the MIT said in a statement right after the event that the “graduating senior” would not be permitted at the degree ceremony the next day.
While the speech got her barred from campus, it soon gained global media attention.
In India, Vemuri’s ancestry put her in the media spotlight, at the same time drawing attention to Israel’s ongoing deadly onslaught on Gaza — where, over the past year and a half, tens of thousands of people have been killed, critically wounded, and starved by Israel’s daily attacks and aid blockades.
“A lot more of the Indian media covered it, and people get to know and hear what’s happening … more and more people are realizing that this is not something you can be silent about,” Sreeja Dontireddy, a student at the English and Foreign Languages University in Hyderabad, told Arab News.
“I think what Megha Vemuri did was commendable and necessary at the same time … If you are given such a platform … and if you do not speak about Palestine, it would be a grave injustice.”
Vemuri said in a statement to the media that she was not disappointed that she did not get to walk the stage with her classmates.
“For two entire graduation seasons, over two years now, thousands of bright Gazan students should have been able to walk across a stage and receive their diplomas. These students did not get to walk because Israel murdered them, displaced them from their homes, and destroyed their schools,” she said.
“I am, however, disappointed that MIT’s officials massively overstepped their roles to punish me without merit or due process, with no indication of any specific policy broken. These repressive measures are proof that the university is guilty of aiding and abetting genocide … They want to distract from what is happening in Palestine and their role in it.”
For Akriti Chaudhary and Himanshu Thakur, recent history graduates from Delhi University, their MIT peer’s protest was something that inspired them to raise their voices more.
“Being a politically aware person, I feel really, really proud and really happy about people speaking up for the Palestinian cause,” Chaudhary said.
“It was difficult to digest the fact that she was barred from her own graduation ceremony … They want to curb all kinds of protest and all kinds of dissent. But it never works that way. It only inspires people to step in and talk about the situation.”
It also inspires them to call things what they really are, “to speak about (the Israeli) occupation, and to call a spade a spade, to call occupation an occupation,” Thakur added. “We need more such voices to come forward, not only in the US but also in India … We need more Meghas in our campuses.”
The opportunity created by Vemuri’s MIT speech is also one for renewed momentum in activism in India.
Priyambada, a physics student and coordinator of BDS India — a group advancing the global Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions campaign in the country — believes their efforts will be strengthened.
“How can you punish someone for speaking against genocide?” she said.
“This is giving strength to students across the world and giving us the opportunity to stand by Megha and Palestinian liberation … All colleges and universities, students from everywhere and people who believe in justice should come forward.”
