After Harvard students wrote a letter holding Israel “entirely responsible” for the attacks by Hamas this week, a vehicle dubbed the “doxxing truck” began driving around the school’s campus flashing the names and photos of students who signed the letter.
The truck described the students it featured as “Harvard’s Leading Antisemites,” photos of the vehicle reveal.
The “doxxing truck,” as The Harvard Crimson called it, was apparently organised by the conservative media watchdog Accuracy In Media. Adam Guillette, the organsation’s president, admitted on X on Wednesday: “Yes, that’s our billboard on their campus.” He added that his group will be “removing the names of students from groups that withdrew but are also adding new names every hour.”
According to The Harvard Crimson, eight of the 34 student groups that signed the letter have withdrawn their names as of Wednesday. The Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC) wrote the 7 October letter.
In a statement to the school paper, the PSC addressed the drive-by doxxing, imploring Harvard 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 continued.
“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 group added. “The doxxing truck is the ugliest culmination of a campaign to silence pro-Palestinian activism that the PSC has experienced for years.”
Harvard Executive Vice President Meredith Weenick on Wednesday apparently wrote in a schoolwide email on Wednesday that the university “takes seriously the safety and wellbeing of every member of our community” and “does not condone or ignore intimidation.”
She added that school officials have been in touch with students “to ensure they are aware of resources available to them if they are concerned about their physical safety or experience an immediate threat.” In addition, the Harvard University Police Department has “stepped up” its presence on campus and was “coordinating closely with local, state, and federal authorities,” Ms Weenick noted.
On top of the doxxing truck, other backlash has arisen following the release of the letter. On Wednesday, billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman called for the release of the names of all the signatories as he said he had been approached by “a number of CEOs” asking for the names of the student organisations to ensure “none of us inadvertently hire any of their members.”
He argued the names should be released to the public because students “should not be able to hide behind a corporate shield when issuing statements supporting the actions of terrorists, who, we now learn, have beheaded babies, among other inconceivably despicable acts.”
