MIT wants a free Palestine: MIT class president condemns Israel in bold address
Cambridge, Massachusetts: At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s 2025 commencement ceremony, Indian-American student and class president Megha Vemuri made international headlines with a powerful, politically charged address condemning Israel’s actions in Gaza and criticizing MIT’s institutional ties to the Israeli military.
Wearing a red keffiyeh, a symbol of solidarity with Palestine, Vemuri delivered her speech before thousands of graduates, faculty, and guests, declaring, “You showed the world that MIT wants a free Palestine.”
Her remarks came amidst widespread campus protests across the United States over the Gaza conflict and American universities’ connections to military and defense interests involved in the war.
“Academic institutions across the country are shrouded in a dark cloud of uncertainty,” Vemuri stated, acknowledging the fear and pressure faced by student activists. She openly accused MIT of complicity: “The Israeli occupation forces are the only foreign military that MIT has research ties with… our school is aiding and abetting genocide.”
Vemuri highlighted recent student-led votes by both undergraduate and graduate bodies at MIT urging the administration to sever ties with Israel’s military. “You faced threats, intimidation, and suppression—especially from your own university officials—but you prevailed,” she told her peers.
As she concluded, Vemuri urged her fellow graduates to turn their class rings outward—a traditional MIT gesture symbolizing readiness to face the world. This time, it carried political weight.
“We carry with us the obligation to do everything we can to stop it. MIT is directly complicit in the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people,” she said, ending her speech with a call for accountability and action.
Vemuri pointed to the total destruction of universities in Gaza as evidence of a systematic erasure: “There are no universities left in Gaza. 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.”
Born and raised in Alpharetta, Georgia, Megha Vemuri has played a prominent role in MIT’s student life. In addition to serving as class president, she was involved in the class council and numerous research initiatives. Vemuri worked as a research assistant at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research and previously interned at the UCT Neuroscience Institute in South Africa.
She also participated in community-oriented educational projects, including creating a neuroscience curriculum for high school students in Jordan. At MIT, she taught artificial intelligence courses and was a member of "Written Revolution," a student group promoting socially conscious ideas.
A National Merit Scholar in 2021, Vemuri has also co-authored two academic articles on avian social behavior.
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SC slams police-power nexus, asks court to conclude murder trial against YSRCP MLC by Nov 30
New Delhi (PTI): Observing that the Andhra Pradesh Police is in “complete collusion” with those in power, the Supreme Court on Friday ordered that the trial against YSRCP MLC Anantha Satya Udaya Bhaskara Rao in a 2022 case of murder should conclude by November 30.
Rao, an MLC of the then ruling YSRCP, is accused of killing his former driver Veedhi Subramanyam, a Dalit, over a money dispute in May 2022 in Kakinada in Andhra Pradesg. He was arrested on charges of murder and atrocity under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities Act).
Passing a slew of directions with an aim to ensure that the probe and trial ends early, a Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant said in its strong comments, “This is a case of complete collusion and hobnobbing. It is a clear case of the nexus between power and police.”
The bench also comprised Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi.
On September 26, 2022, the Andhra Pradesh High Court dismissed Rao's petition seeking default bail in the high profile murder case. The high court said a chargesheet cannot be termed "incomplete" or "defective" simply because it was returned by a court for technical corrections or missing scientific reports.
On December 12, 2022, the apex court granted Rao interim bail, saying the accused cannot be kept in custody.
On Friday, the CJI-led bench perused the case records and said it was apparent that the state police was “hobnobbing” with the accused and yet he did not get bail from the high court.
The bench asked the chief justice of the Andhra Pradesh high court to entrust the trial in the case to a senior judicial officer who can take up the matter at least once in a week.
While asking the state police to conclude the investigation in the case by March 31, it asked the trial court to complete the issues relating to framing of charges against the lawmaker by April 18, 2026.
The bench granted prosecution time till August 31 to conclude examination of its witnesses in the case.
While granting two months to the accused to lead defence evidence for two months, the bench asked the trial court to conclude the trial by November 30.
It restrained all the courts, including the high court, from passing any order which may lead to halting of trial.
The apex court asked the high court judge in charge of the district where the l will go on to ensure that its procedural directions are followed.
