Until October 7, 2023, I was a poster child for PhD students at MIT, even featured on the university’s news profile earlier that July.
“He has two years of graduate school experience,” it noted. “Sussman is contemplating a future in academia.”
That possibility has slipped away. I left MIT in January, driven out by the anti-Semitism I faced on campus, and I’m currently pursuing a lawsuit against the university.
Anti-Semitism isn’t a new issue; I first got involved with the MIT alumni Hillel during my first year because, as I mentioned to MIT News, “I think showing Jewish culture is crucial amidst rising anti-Semitism.”
Just three months post-profile, Hamas perpetrated the deadliest attacks against Jews since the Holocaust.
Violence promoted
As president of alumni Hillel, I had to manage my own grief while helping community members who sought support regarding the anti-Semitism they faced. We endured chants inciting violence against Jews, witnessed takeovers of buildings, and saw classes disrupted by anti-Semitic rhetoric. Harassment and bullying targeting Jewish students escalated.
This hostile atmosphere caught public attention in December 2023 when MIT’s President Sally Cornbluth, alongside leaders from Harvard and Penn, was called to testify in Congress about the anti-Semitism on her campus.
She spoke about wanting the exclusion of what became known as the infamous Jews. Meanwhile, calls for the genocide of Jews increased, exacerbating an already fearful climate on campus.
Academically, it became increasingly tough to focus on my computer science work. During protests, a student was arrested near my office. Disturbingly, someone even urinated at the MIT Hillel Center. When demonstrators set up camp in the heart of campus, the Hillel had to postpone our long-standing annual celebration for Israel’s Independence Day.
The situation spiraled as MIT chose not to act against the rising tide of anti-Semitism.
In November 2024, a professor with long-standing ties to MIT posted online that “Zionist ‘mind infections'” were financed by “Jewish student life organizations” like Hillel and Chabad.
When I highlighted how dangerous that rhetoric was, the professor began publicly targeting me on social media to his following of 10,000. He did this multiple times, branding me as a “good case study” in his sixth post.
I reached out to him with a simple request: “Please leave me alone.” Instead, he emailed my entire department, including students and faculty, announcing plans to use me as a “realistic case study” of the supposed “mind infection” among Jewish individuals in his upcoming seminars.
His harassment escalated, which included direct emails to top-level administrators, including President Cornbluth. He claimed I had “strong connections” with media outlets and influential political figures.
Silence maintained
Suddenly, I found myself being harassed on a larger scale. Various students and staff rallied to amplify the professor’s negative rhetoric about me. A staff member even sent a barrage of emails painting me as a racist. My mother was afraid for my safety.
What’s most concerning is that President Cornbluth and other high-ranking officials remained silent while harassment unfolded in real time. None intervened.
On the morning of the seminar, flyers were slipped under the doors of my fellow residents, featuring articles that encouraged violent “resistance” against Jews, specifically aimed at me. The flyers alluded to past tweets I made related to Hamas.
During his seminar, the professor began discussing “language and linguistics for colonization and liberation” and made a point of mentioning ongoing genocide as we engaged in this academic endeavor.
I submitted a formal complaint to MIT’s discrimination and harassment response office, but they concluded that there would be no investigation since they deemed the professor’s actions not anti-Semitic. They claimed his reference to “mind-infections” was targeted at “settler-colonial Zionist propaganda.”
It felt as though MIT’s own bias against common anti-Semitism led them to dismiss my complaints entirely, leaving me feeling isolated and frustrated.
No alternatives left
Studying computer science at MIT has always been a dream for me. Yet, realizing the school wouldn’t safeguard me against persistent harassment, I had no option but to abandon my PhD aspirations.
Simply because I am Jewish.
