Overview

• Instructor Lior Alon and former PhD student William Sussman filed the lawsuit Wednesday in Boston federal court accusing MIT of fostering a hostile environment for Jewish community members
• The suit alleges a tenured linguistics professor revealed a Jewish student’s name and Israeli military service online, used mass emails to describe a “Jewish ‘mind infection,’” and faced no disciplinary action, prompting the student to abandon their studies
• It claims MIT’s harassment and discrimination office refused to investigate reported incidents, branding complaints as “settler-colonial Zionist propaganda”
• According to the filing, students distributed “terror maps” in April 2025 marking buildings linked to Jewish and Israeli groups and encouraging violence with no administrative response
• Backed by the Louis D. Brandeis Center Coalition to Combat Antisemitism, the plaintiffs are seeking a court order to enforce MIT’s non-discrimination and harassment policies