Even as some of the Harvard students who signed on to a letter placing the sole blame on Israel for the recent deadly attacks by Hamas took steps to distance themselves from the statement amid mushrooming backlash, a billboard truck began circling the streets surrounding the university’s campus on Wednesday, projecting the names and photos of signatories under a banner identifying them as “Harvard’s Leading Antisemites.”
The so-called “doxxing truck,” as The Harvard Crimson characterized it, was apparently organized by Accuracy In Media, a conservative media watchdog. The group’s president, Adam Guillette, took responsibility for the stunt on X, saying that his team was “removing the names of students from groups that withdrew but are also adding new names every hour.”
The truck’s electronic billboard also displayed the URL of a website listing the names of students associated with organizations that had signed the letter, which was penned by Harvard’s Palestine Solidarity Groups and said it held “the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.”
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More than 30 Harvard student groups signed the open letter, though at least eight had withdrawn their support and signatures by Wednesday, according to the Crimson. Several of them reported that not all members of their respective boards had seen the letter in its entirety before signing on.
The website doxxing the signatories was one of at least four that published students’ personal information—not just names and photos, but in many cases also class years, hometowns, past places of employment, and links to their social media profiles.
Palestine Solidarity Groups told the Crimson on Wednesday that 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.”
“It is quite literally [a] 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,” the statement continued.
“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 previously confirmed that law enforcement authorities were aware of the online doxxing attempts, and that school officials were in contact with affected students and student organizations.
Lawrence H. Summers, a former Harvard president, who previously condemned university leadership for failing to swiftly denounce the letter, called for an end to the threats. In a Wednesday tweet, he wrote, “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.”
“This is not a time where it is constructive to vilify individuals and I am sorry that it is happening,” he continued. “It is a time for absolute clarity that words or deeds that threaten the safety of others in our community will not be tolerated.”
The letter’s publication on Saturday was met with near-universal outrage, with several CEOs calling for Harvard to release the full names of the student organizations’ members. “I would like to know so I know never to hire these people,” tweeted Jonathan Neman, CEO of restaurant chain Sweetgreen.
