MIT Professor Under Investigation for Anti-Semitic Behavior

A professor at MIT remains employed at the institution amid allegations of harassment and anti-Semitism. Former graduate student Will Sussman has filed a lawsuit against MIT and Professor Michel DeGraff, accusing him of extreme anti-Semitic harassment that led to his departure from MIT.

Sussman alleges that the harassment began after he objected to a guest lecturer discussing alleged Zionist “mind infection,” suggesting Jewish influence funded by groups like Hillel and Chabad. The lawsuit claims DeGraff branded Sussman a “real-life case study” of this supposed infection in an email to high-level staff, including the university president. DeGraff also publicly justified these remarks on social media.

According to the lawsuit, DeGraff’s remarks extended to other inflammatory comments, such as telling a Jewish group: “Sorry that your mind might seem so infected that you can’t follow the data & logic.” Sussman reports that these actions created a hostile environment that compromised his ability to study on campus. He states that the pervasive antisemitism caused him significant distress and concentration issues while on campus.

Sussman further criticizes the university’s administrative response, highlighting that despite high-level staff being aware of the harassment, little action was taken. He points out that MIT’s Office for Discrimination and Harassment did not pursue an investigation following his complaint.

DeGraff, a Haitian-born linguist who previously focused on decolonization and radical liberation, has apparently been removed from faculty as of November 2024. An automatic email response from him states he is now a “Faculty at large” within MIT’s School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences.

The lawsuit seeks to address what Sussman calls an ongoing hostile climate at MIT, aiming for injunctive relief and damages for lost educational and employment opportunities. MIT officials have publicly stated that the university condemns antisemitism and will defend itself in court.