Financial support of MIT is unethical
President Reif and Provost Lester have thrown their lots — and MIT’s — in with those who allow business to trump morality. This is inexcusable at any institution of higher learning, and I am upset to see it happening at my alma mater. The argument that MIT cannot cease working with the nation of Saudi Arabia without punishing its worthy scholars is a cynical (and unproven) smokescreen that serves to obscure a much less palatable idea — that state-sanctioned murder to silence a journalist can be rationalized as a minor transgression, so as not to damage a lucrative relationship.
In view of MIT’s ethical failure, I have concluded that financial support of MIT is in turn unethical. I will instead be supporting Reporters Without Borders.
Jim Newman SB ’79, SM ’84