MIT class president Megha Vemuri praises anti-Israel protesters then accuses school of genocide complicity
A graduation ceremony that should have celebrated academic achievement instead erupted into chaos when the class president delivered a speech nobody expected.
What happened next left Jewish students walking out and families devastated on what was supposed to be their proudest day.
The Speech That Changed Everything
Megha M. Vemuri, MIT’s Class of 2025 president, took the stage at Thursday’s commencement ceremony with what appeared to be a standard graduation address.
Instead, she delivered a politically charged speech that would make headlines across the nation.
The MIT administration had no idea what was coming. They had approved a completely different speech in advance.
Praise for Campus Protesters
Vemuri began by praising her fellow students for their anti-Israel protests following the October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attacks.
“Last spring, MIT’s undergraduate body and graduate student union voted overwhelmingly to cut ties with the genocidal Israeli military,” she declared to the shocked audience.
The crowd’s reaction was immediate and divided. Boos mixed with cheers as families tried to process what they were hearing at their children’s graduation.
One attendee waving what appeared to be a Palestinian flag even scuffled with security personnel.
The Accusation That Sparked Walkouts
But Vemuri wasn’t finished. Her next statements would prove even more controversial.
She accused MIT itself of being complicit in what she called genocide, specifically targeting the university’s research partnerships.
“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 continued.
This was the moment when Jewish and Israeli students began standing up and walking out of the ceremony.
Families Devastated on Graduation Day
The impact on Jewish families was immediate and heartbreaking.
One graduating Israeli student, speaking anonymously to Fox News, described the scene: “All of our families came from far to see the ceremony and were extremely disappointed.”
The student continued: “All the Jewish families, not only the Israelis, stepped out and left the ceremony.”
For many families, this was supposed to be the culmination of years of hard work and sacrifice. Instead, they found themselves walking out in protest.
MIT’s Swift Response
The university’s reaction was immediate and decisive.
After Vemuri’s Thursday speech, MIT administrators made a crucial decision about Friday’s undergraduate ceremony.
She would not be allowed to participate.
An MIT spokesperson explained their position clearly: “The speech delivered by a graduating senior at Thursday’s OneMIT Commencement Ceremony was not the one that was provided by the speaker in advance.”
The university emphasized that Vemuri had “deliberately and repeatedly misled Commencement organizers and led a protest from the stage, disrupting an important Institute ceremony.”
The Broader Campus Crisis
This incident reflects a larger crisis affecting universities across America.
MIT joins a growing list of prestigious institutions grappling with campus antisemitism and anti-Israel activism.
Harvard, located nearby, is facing serious pressure from the Trump administration over allegedly harboring “pro-terrorist” conduct on campus.
The consequences are real: Harvard has already lost millions in federal funding.
What should have been a celebration of academic achievement became another flashpoint in America’s ongoing campus crisis, leaving families divided and a university scrambling to maintain order at its most important ceremony of the year.