A billboard truck drove through the streets surrounding Harvard’s campus Wednesday, digitally displaying the names and faces of students allegedly affiliated with student groups that signed onto a controversial statement on Hamas’ attack on Israel.
Amid
continued national backlash and
doxxing attacks, at least eight of the original 34 co-signing Harvard student groups as of Wednesday afternoon withdrew their signatures from the statement — originally penned by the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee — that called Israel “entirely responsible” for the violence. In a later statement, the PSC wrote that it “staunchly opposes” violence against all civilians.
By Tuesday evening,
at least four online sites had listed the personal information of students linked to clubs that had signed onto the statement, including full names, class years, past employment, social media profiles, photos, and hometowns.
As of Wednesday morning, at least two of those sites had been taken down for violating Google’s terms of service.
On Wednesday, in the face of student safety concerns, some of the statement’s harshest critics denounced acts of violence or intimidation against the members of the statement’s signatories.
The responses followed the appearance of the billboard truck, which labeled the displayed Harvard students as “antisemites.” The display also referenced a website that listed multiple full names of students associated with organizations that had signed onto the PSC’s statement.
Harvard Hillel, the University’s Jewish center, released a statement Wednesday afternoon saying that it “strongly condemns any attempts to threaten and intimidate” members of co-signatory organizations.
“We will continue to reject the PSC’s statement in the strongest terms — and demand accountability for those who signed it,” the statement reads. “But under no circumstances should that accountability extend to public intimidation of individuals.”
“Such intimidation is counterproductive to the education that needs to take place on our campus at this difficult time,” it continues.
In a statement to The Crimson on Wednesday, the PSC called on University leadership to “immediately and unequivocally condemn the harassment and intimidation of its students.”
“The truck actively threatens students safety on campus at a time when credible death threats have already forced us to postpone a solidarity vigil acknowledging all civilian victims,” the statement reads.
“It is quite literally physical threat, a heinous intimidation technique, a warning sign meant to scare ideological allies into repudiating our mission — and for the Jewish members of associations linked to our own, an unjustifiable and insulting slap in the face,” it continues. “The doxxing truck is the ugliest culmination of a campaign to silence pro-Palestinian activism that the PSC has experienced for years.”
A Harvard spokesperson did not immediately provide comment on the doxxing or PSC’s criticism of the University’s response.
On Wednesday, a Harvard spokesperson wrote that the College has reached out directly to impacted students and student organizations to provide support and resources. In a Tuesday statement, College spokesperson Jonathan Palumbo confirmed that authorities had been alerted of doxxing on public websites.
In a post on X, former University President Lawrence H. Summers reaffirmed his disdain for the joint statement, but he called for the doxxing to stop.
“I yield to no one in my revulsion at the statement apparently made on behalf of 30 plus @Harvard student groups. But please everybody take a deep breath,” Summer wrote. “It is a time for absolute clarity that words or deeds that threaten the safety of others in our community will not be tolerated.”
Harvard Economics professor Jason Furman ’92 shared a similar statement on X, writing that he had been contacted by a student who had been doxxed despite no longer attending Harvard or affiliating with the co-signing group.
“I am reassured by the widespread condemnation of the statement by the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Group. But I am appalled by people threatening individual students. I’m even more appalled since many of them had nothing to do with the letter,” Furman wrote.
—Staff writer J. Sellers Hill can be reached at
sellers.hill@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X
@SellersHill.
—Staff writer Nia L. Orakwue can be reached at
nia.orakwue@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X
@nia_orakwue.
