MIT Staff for Palestine is an unofficial loose group of people employed by MIT (staff, researchers, and faculty). We formed in November, 2023, after authoring an open letter to President Kornbluth on our concerns regarding the administration’s treatment of student protestors. We have no leadership or official member lists.

Interested parties may attend meetings as their schedules allow, and volunteer to get more involved in planning events and projects. We believe in supporting the autonomous actions of people involved in the group and encourage you to collaborate with each other on ways to support MIT students, faculty, and staff who are pro-Palestine. 

The group follows the Chatham House Rule. We hold a zero-tolerance policy for harmful behavior including: racism, anti-blackness, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, fatphobia, discrimination based on religion/background/culture (including antisemitism and Islamophobia), and general hatefulness.

• MIT Faculty and Staff for Palestine (MITFS4P) is a democratic and plural group of MIT employees (both faculty and staff).

• MITFS4P understands the struggle for Palestinian freedom to be aligned with anti-colonial movements and struggles around the world. These include movements for Indigenous land rights, Black liberation, gender and sexual freedom, immigrant and refugee justice, and a liveable and sustainable planet.

• MITFS4P supports and amplifies the work of the CAA, Coalition for Palestine, MIT Jews for Ceasefire, and other student groups struggling for Palestinian liberation at MIT.

• MITFS4P supports and endorses the principles of BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions). As a research institute we support No Tech for Apartheid and cultural boycotts of Israeli institutions as outlined by PACBI and divestment in relation to college endowments and retirement funds.

• MITFS4P calls for an end to Israel’s occupation and colonization of Palestine. We insist on the fundamental rights of Palestinians to self-determination and legal equality, and we pledge to respect, protect, and promote the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and lands.

• MITFS4P rejects the conflation of support for Palestinian liberation and criticism of Israel with antisemitism. We stand against racism and oppression in all its manifestations, including anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian racism, anti-Muslim racism and Islamophobia, antisemitism, anti-Blackness, anti-Asianracism, xenophobia, white supremacy, caste discrimination, misogyny, homophobia, and oppression targeting trans and non-binary gender identifications, and people with disabilities.

• MITFS4P strives to protect and defend students, faculty, and staff who engage in speech and activity for Palestine and Palestinians, including BDS organizing. We support and defend the right to teach and talk about interlocking global systems of oppression including those related to Palestine.

• MITFS4P affirms that the most securely employed among us protect more vulnerable members at all times.

• MITFS4P participates in regional cross-campus coalitions with allies at other colleges and universities.