Hundreds of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) alumni have sent a scathing letter to the school’s governing body, the MIT Corporation, and administration, scolding them for their support of MIT’s president after her “disastrous” congressional testimony last week.

The letter, signed by over 700 MIT Jewish alumni and MIT allies, calls the school’s administration into action after failing to condemn President Sally Kornbluth’s testimony on Capitol Hill last week when she “implied that calls for genocide of Jews may not constitute bullying and harassment under MIT’s code of conduct, depending on context.”

“Exactly what kind of message was the MIT Corporation trying to send to the MIT community, and especially its Jewish members, with such a statement so at odds with the overwhelming majority of the public?” the letter states.

“President Kornbluth’s failure to control antisemitism on MIT’s campus has distracted MIT’s students and administration from MIT’s core mission,” the alumni say. “We are alarmed to observe MIT earning a national reputation for antisemitism on President Kornbluth’s watch, rather than for academic excellence, and joining a group of ignominious universities currently struggling with antisemitism on their campuses.”

The former students went on to argue that “MIT’s public reputation affects its ability to attract the best students, faculty candidates, and corporate research partners for its scientific work.”

The former MIT scholars pointed out that “even in view of the disastrous congressional testimony by President Kornbluth, the executive board of the MIT Corporation chose to extend its full support to the President.”

“Notably, President Kornbluth was the only University president that did not issue any apology or clarification in response to the intense backlash to her Congressional testimony,” they wrote.