‘Doxxing Truck’ Posts Names Of Columbia And Harvard Students Who Condemned Israel

Topline

The conservative organization behind the controversial so-called doxxing trucks stationed a new truck at Columbia University this week, publicly listing the names and faces of students who signed a letter calling on the university to cut ties with Israel, following the truck’s debut doxxing pro-Palestinian Harvard University students—and the organization has plans to expand the program, including outside students’ homes.

The so-called doxxing truck, which listed the names and faces of students at Harvard University who … [+] signed a pro-Palestinian letter blaming Israel for the ongoing conflict, has expanded to Columbia University.

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Key Facts

The truck, which is the third from the group and has been posting students’ names with the caption “Columbia’s Leading Antisemites,” first appeared on Columbia’s campus in New York City on Wednesday afternoon, according to Adam Guillette, the president of Accuracy in Media, the organization that solely funds the project.

Guillette told Forbes the organization also sent a truck to the University of Pennsylvania, calling on university president Liz Magill to resign, following complaints the university fostered antisemitism by allowing for a pro-Palestinian festival in September—the university defended its leadership earlier this month.

The doxxing truck at Columbia comes in response to a joint statement drafted by Columbia student organizations to university leadership, urging the Ivy League institution to cut ties with “apartheid Israel,” including a partnership with Tel Aviv University—the students also expressed “heartfelt condolences” to people affiliated with the university who were “affected by the tragic losses experienced by both Palestinians and Israelis.”

The Harvard doxxing truck, meanwhile, appeared in response to a letter drafted by the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee and signed by 33 university student groups who argued Hamas’ assault on Israel “did not occur in a vacuum—that group argued the conflict instead stems from Israel’s “apartheid regime” in Gaza (the student groups released a follow-up statement saying they opposed violence “against all innocent life”).

Guillette claimed the trucks are intended to expose antisemitism, arguing the students behind the statement “are proud antisemites” and “people should know who they are”—the measure, however, has faced heavy pushback from students, academics and university leadership.

Chief Critic

The doxxing trucks immediately faced heavy pushback among students at Columbia and Harvard, where students held pro-Palestinian signs and banners directly in front of the truck to block the truck’s LED screens. The Harvard Hillel Jewish center also took objection to the truck, saying it “strongly condemns any attempt to threaten and intimidate” students who signed the letter, Harvard’s student newspaper the Harvard Crimson reported. Students were not alone in criticizing the Harvard truck: University of California Berkeley law school dean Erwin Chemerinsky called the truck “despicable,” the New York Times reported. Columbia University president Minouche Shafik issued a statement before the latest truck appeared on the university’s campus, saying some Columbia students “have been victims of doxing,” calling it a “form of online harassment” that will “not be tolerated.”

Contra

The Harvard statement also received criticism, including from former Harvard president Lawrence Summers, who said the university leadership’s initial silence following the letter “allowed Harvard to appear at best neutral towards acts of terror against the Jewish state of Israel.” Harvard president Claudine Gay later condemned Hamas’ October 7 attacks, which started the ongoing war between Hamas and Israel, adding that no student groups “speaks for Harvard University or its leadership.” Billionaire Pershing Square Capital Management CEO—and big-time Harvard University donor—Bill Ackman also took objection to the students’ letter putting sole blame on Israel, pleading with the university to release the names of the students behind the letter in an apparent bid to assure he does not “inadvertently hire” any of those students. Sweetgreen CEO and co-founder Jonathan Neman responded to Ackman’s statement on X (formerly known as Twitter), saying he would also “like to know so I know never to hire these people.”

Tangent

The University of Pennsylvania earlier this month defended Magill and university board chair Scott Bok amid calls for the duo to resign, after Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan, a university alum, claimed the Ivy League school provided space for antisemitic rhetoric. In an op-ed piece published earlier this month in The Free Press, Rowan claimed the university allowed for a Palestinian literature festival in September in which speakers “advocated ethnic cleansing of Jews”—that festival took place two weeks before Hamas launched its military offensive against Israel.

News Peg

On Wednesday, billionaire hedge fund manager Leon Cooperman announced he would stop donating to Columbia in the wake of student-led anti-Israel protests.

‘Doxxing Truck’ Posts Names Of Columbia And Harvard Students Who Condemned Israel—Here’s What To Know About The Trucks