- More than 30 Harvard student groups signed a letter blaming Israel for the Hamas attacks.
- A driver rode around Harvard in a truck with names and images of students it linked to the letter.
On Sunday, dozens of Harvard student groups cosigned a letter blaming Israel for the brutal Hamas attacks over the weekend. The letter's release sparked a backlash against the student groups that now apparently includes a doxing effort involving a truck.
The Harvard Crimson reported that a truck was spotted being driven through campus on Wednesday featuring a digital billboard claiming to show faces and names of students associated with the letter. Images on social media appear to show that the students' names and images appeared alongside the title "Harvard's leading antisemites."
It's not clear how long the truck was being driven through campus. Insider was not able to verify that all names and images displayed on the truck were involved in the letter.
The university released a statement Wednesday saying it had been in contact with students and organizations to provide support but did not directly mention the truck. Harvard did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider sent outside regular business hours.
—Elias Schisgall (@eschisgall) October 11, 2023
The president of the conservative watchdog Accuracy in Media has claimed responsibility for the stunt, writing on X that his team was "removing the names of students from groups that withdrew but are also adding new names every hour."
Accuracy in Media used the truck to advertise a link to its website and a petition calling for Harvard to expel the students whose organizations cosigned the letter. Its website also displayed the full names of students it said were associated with the letter.
The organization did not make clear how it sourced the students' names. Accuracy in Media did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider sent outside regular business hours.
The truck has drawn significant backlash. One user on X wrote, "This is so grotesque and depraved." Another added that the truck represented "intimidation & harassment of appalling proportions."
In a post on X on Wednesday, Jason Furman, a Harvard Kennedy School professor, condemned the letter but criticized the doxing of students. Furman also shared a redacted photo of the truck online.
"Publishing lists of students and personal information under the headings 'terrorist,' 'genocidal murderer' and 'anti semite' is just wrong in any circumstance, especially when many of the people named have nothing to do with the statement," Furman wrote.
The letter at the heart of the controversy was cosigned by more than 30 Harvard student groups. "We, the undersigned student organizations, hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence," the letter read.
The billionaire investor Bill Ackman has been one of the loudest voices leading the backlash against the organizations that signed the letter. He called on Harvard to identify student members of groups that cosigned the letter so CEOs would not "inadvertently hire" them.
The Harvard Crimson reported that at least four websites had doxed students by publishing their names, hometowns, photos, and social-media profiles online.