Who is Megha Vemuri? MIT bars student over Gaza remarks

Cambridge: Indian-American student Megha Vemuri was removed from her role as marshal and banned from attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) commencement ceremony on Friday after delivering an unauthorised pro-Palestine speech a day earlier.

The MIT Chancellor, Melissa Nobles, informed Vemuri via email that she and her family were barred from campus for most of the day. Nobles wrote that Vemuri had “deliberately and repeatedly misled Commencement organisers” and violated MIT’s rules on time, place, and manner of expression.

Vemuri’s remarks, delivered from the stage, sharply criticised MIT’s alleged links to Israel and labelled the institute “complicit in the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people.” Her speech received loud cheers from sections of the audience.

In response, protests broke out at the ceremony, forcing Chancellor Nobles to pause her speech as students chanted in support of Vemuri. Nobles asked the protestors to respect the ceremony’s purpose and the graduates' families.

An MIT spokesperson later said the institute stood by its decision, citing that the speech Vemuri gave was not the one previously approved. Vemuri called the campus ban an "overreach" and defended her remarks as a rightful act of protest.

Vemuri’s removal has sparked debate over free speech, campus activism, and institutional accountability, drawing attention across the US academic community.