CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Campus police at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are working with local and federal law enforcement to identify the vandals who defaced a school building with an anti-Israel slogan, the school said Tuesday.
Vandals spray-painted the words “Death to the IOF,” known as a slur for the Israel Defense Forces, onto glass doors of the Stata Center, a large academic complex at the elite school, sometime over the weekend.
The graffiti, threatening Israelis who serve or have served in the military, was tagged with the letters DAMPL, which stands for the Direct Action Movement for Palestinian Liberation, MIT officials said.
“The MIT Police Department is working with local and federal officials to identify the individual or individuals responsible for the graffiti on campus this weekend so that they can be held accountable for these outrageous acts of vandalism, targeting and threats of violence,” an MIT spokesperson said Tuesday.
“While we do not publicly discuss the specifics of internal safety plans, I can confirm we are taking steps beyond the investigation to further increase security on campus,” the spokesperson said.
MIT Israel Alliance, a Jewish advocacy group on campus, denounced the vandalism.
“The MIT Israel Alliance is disturbed—but not surprised—by the recent vandalism of the Stata Center,“ the group said in a statement.
“This incident is the latest in an Escalating string of attempts to harass and intimidate MIT faculty with research ties to Israel,” the group said. “The spray-painted slogan “Death to the IOF” (a slur for the IDF) goes beyond political speech; we take it as a direct threat to all IDF veterans at MIT, who make up the majority of Israeli students, postdocs, staff, and faculty."
“We have received no guidance from the MIT administration despite reaching out,” the group said. “We hope to hear promptly how the university will address these threats and ensure the safety of all community members on campus.”
The vandalism comes about two weeks after a federal lawsuit was filed accusing MIT and its leaders of cultivating an environment “rife with anti-Semitism and fear.”
The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law filed the lawsuit on June 25 in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts.
The 71-page complaint alleges that anti-Semitism soared on MIT’s campus after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taking 250 hostages.
“After October 7, the campus became a hotbed of anti-Semitic hate and lawlessness, where student groups celebrated the murderous rampage of October 7, demonstrators shouted for violence against Jews worldwide, students occupied buildings and interrupted classes with hateful anti-Semitic chants,” the complaint states.
In a letter to members of the MIT community on Tuesday afternoon, MIT President Sally Kornbluth decried the vandalism, calling the weekend incident “extremely troubling.”
“The graffiti was signed by the Direct Action Movement for Palestinian Liberation (DAMPL), an external entity. This DAMPL action on our campus was only one of several that occurred this weekend in the Boston area and beyond,” Kornbluth wrote.
“A social media account tied to DAMPL takes credit for the vandalism and makes outrageous and inaccurate accusations about the work of CSAIL Director Daniela Rus,” Kornbluth wrote.
“The safety of our community is paramount. We reject calls for violence, and we embrace and support all members of our community,” Kornbluth wrote. “At my direction, MIT Police Chief John DiFava has increased patrols on campus and around Stata, and is working closely with outside law enforcement, including the FBI, to investigate this incident and enhance campus security.”
“We will press for criminal charges for those responsible,” Kornbluth wrote. “Though we believe this was the work of outsiders, if the responsible party is found to be a member of the MIT community, we will also take disciplinary action.”
Kornbluth also defended Rus, who is among MIT researchers who “have faced repeated and willful mischaracterizations of the content and purpose of their work.”
“This is open, publishable, fundamental research,” Kornbluth wrote. “Suggestions that Professor Rus’s research is designed for conflict are untrue. Those protesting her work are calling on MIT to terminate funding for a research project she led with the University of Haifa.”
“For the record, the grant in question had a fixed four-year timeline and ended as planned – and unrelated to any pressure – in November 2024, making these unlawful actions not only reprehensible but pointless as well,“ Kornbluth wrote.
“We must not, and we will not, tolerate threats of violence and targeted vandalism on our campus,” Kornbluth wrote in her letter to the MIT community. “And we will work closely with the authorities to hold those responsible accountable.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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