Recently, the Vice President for Research (VPR) reached out to me asking for the content of a project at the Center for Transportation and Logistics (CTL) involving Maersk, the world’s largest maritime container carrier based in Denmark. CTL has had a longstanding, productive collaboration with Maersk, resulting in numerous publications and student theses. I was taken aback, however. In my 49 years at MIT – including as a professor, department head, and CTL’s director – this marked the first time a senior administrator asked for details on a specific project. When I asked why, the VPR explained that Pro-Palestine demonstrators wanted this information. My response? “Tell them to Go Fly a   Kite.”

All MIT projects undergo rigorous review and contractual approval, and our work with Maersk is no exception. Students are not entitled to detailed information on faculty projects, nor do they have the authority to scrutinize them in this way. Yet, a day later, I received a demand from an MIT attorney insisting I provide the requested details. It was startling to see the Office of General Counsel mobilized over student demands. My response was simple: “You have the contract; read it. Our work aligns fully with its framework. As for the students, they can Go Fly A Kite.” While I have no problem taking such a stand, I’m not sure how a younger faculty member might have responded to such a “request” and subsequent legal pressure.

A recent article in The Tech presented the protesting students’ perspective, full of accusations about MIT, grievances against “racist” campus police, frustration over MIT’s potential enforcement of its own rules, and threats against CTL due to its collaboration with Maersk. Regarding CTL’s research, it included the line, “Those certainly are ties that we’re going after.” The reason for targeting Maersk? It operates in Mediterranean ports, including Israel. Of course, Maersk is not alone; nearly every major maritime carrier calls on Israeli ports. In addition, air carriers, including TNT, DHL, UPS, and FedEx, serve the Israeli market. CTL works with several of them and hopes to work with many more.

The reason I am sharing this incident with my faculty colleagues is not because of the targeting of CTL and Maersk, but because of the administration’s response: engaging in meetings and negotiations with these student groups. By doing so, MIT is validating and emboldening these attacks on academic freedom. My experience reflects a disturbing trend, with faculty and research projects repeatedly under fire. Recently, colleagues have been targeted for research in areas like theoretical communication protocols, robotics, biology, and more. This escalation of student activism, crossing into interference with faculty research, and intimidation of research assistants, is an unacceptable infringement on our academic autonomy.

As faculty, we must remind the administration that every project conducted at MIT has been thoroughly vetted, and students do not hold veto power over legitimate research endeavors. The only appropriate response to demands for information and attempts to target faculty based on their research areas is to respectfully tell students to Go Fly A Kite.

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