MIT student awkwardly interrupts math lecture to call for walkout and lead ‘Free Palestine’ chant
A student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has gone viral for awkwardly interrupting a math lecture to protest the so-called “ongoing genocide of Gaza.”
The clip, viewed more than 18 million times on X since being posted by billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, shows the unidentified student standing before the class as the lecturer writes a mathematical equation on the board.
“Excuse me,” the student says twice while swinging his arms and legs in clear awkwardness.
“I am just going to finish this line,” the lecturer finally tells him after initially ignoring him. “Can I just finish this line?” he adds, turning back to the whiteboard to continue.
The student continues to twitch and look nervous as he’s forced to stand for another 35 seconds before the lecturer finishes and turns to see what he has to say.
The student then reads a prepared statement from his phone, saying: “As you witness an ongoing genocide of Gaza in MIT silence, I’m joining hundreds of students city-wide walking out of class.
“We stand for the liberation of Palestine against active genocide that is perpetuated by MIT, Israel and the United States.”
The student then picks up the Palestinian flag and waves it, chanting “Free Palestine!” repeatedly as a handful of others join in the chant — but with the others seen on camera merely looking at them.
“This is the state of learning and ‘free speech’ at our top universities,” Ackman, the CEO of Pershing Square and an outspoken critic of student activists on the issue, wrote alongside the clip, which he said was filmed last Wednesday.
“Imagine being a student who borrowed $250k to attend MIT or a professor who is trying to do research in this environment.”
One X user wrote: “I feel bad for that professor. Has to act like nothing is going on.”
Another posted: “The last decade has turned learning from academic to activism. Just 15yrs ago being a student at Harvard and taking many classes at MIT, I never saw activism — or it’d be restricted to a 30min actually peaceful protest in front of the science center.”
A third added: “A university classroom is supposed to be a safe space for all. There is no place for this nonsense inside a math class! Universities need to take a stand to protect ALL students.”
Last week, Jewish students at MIT said they were prevented from attending classes by a “blockade” of hostile anti-Israel students — and fear the school is “not safe for Jews.”
An open letter written by the MIT Israel Alliance alleged that Jewish and Israeli students were “physically” obstructed from classrooms by a “hostile” pro-Palestinian group called the Coalition Against Apartheid.
“This is after students from the CAA harassed MIT staff members in their offices for being Jewish and interrupted classes in the past few weeks,” the group wrote.
“Many Jewish students fear leaving their dorm rooms and have stated that they feel MIT is not safe for Jews,” the letter said.
The MIT Israel Alliance noted the CAA protest was on the 85th anniversary of Kristallnacht — an infamous pogrom committed against Jews throughout Nazi Germany in 1938 that was considered a prelude to the Holocaust.
The Post has reached out to MIT for comment on the incident in the math lecture.
