Cambridge, Massachusetts - MIT's 2025 class president Megha Vemuri was prevented from walking the stage at her graduation last week after delivering a speech in support of the Palestinian people under Israeli siege.

During her remarks at Thursday's OneMIT Commencement ceremony, Vemuri donned a keffiyeh as she praised fellow students for taking a stand for Palestinian human rights in spite of threats and intimidation from university officials.

"You have faced the obstacle of fear before, and you turned it into fuel to stand up for what is right. You showed the world that MIT wants a free Palestine," Vemuri told the audience, which included Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey.

"Right now, as we prepare to graduate and move forward with our lives, 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," Vemuri condemned.

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After the speech, MIT President Sally Kornbluth took to the stage to say, "Listen, folks. At MIT, we value freedom of expression, but today's about the graduates."

The next day, senior university leadership informed Vemuri she would not be permitted to attend Friday's commencement ceremony, she told CNN, though MIT confirmed she would still receive her degree.

"I see no need for me to walk across the stage of an institution that is complicit in this genocide," Vemuri said to the outlet. "I am, however, disappointed that MIT's officials massively overstepped their roles to punish me without merit or due process, with no indication of any specific policy broken."

During her speech, Vemuri reiterated calls for an arms embargo and for MIT to divest from Israel.

The university's decision to punish her for her pro-peace message sparked renewed outrage over academic institutions' repression of free speech rights, particularly when it comes to support for Palestinian liberation.

"We condemn MIT for reportedly banning class president Megha Vemuri from walking alongside her classmates because she dared to deliver a powerful speech criticizing the university’s complicity in war crimes perpetrated by the Israeli government," Tahirah Amatul-Wadud, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations' Massachusetts chapter, said in a press release.

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"MIT officials should be ashamed of themselves for both helping enable the Israeli government’s genocide and for silencing their own students who speak up against those crimes against humanity."

Last month, New York University announced it would withhold the diploma of Logan Rozos, a student speaker who condemned the genocide in Gaza during a commencement address.

At George Washington University, student speaker Cecilia Culver was banned from campus after sharing a similar message in a commencement ceremony.