Harvard Announces New Guidance on Doxxing, Online Harassment Following Student Criticism

Harvard’s top leadership announced in an email on Thursday that the University updated its guidance on doxxing and online harassment, a move that follows months of criticism from some affiliates that Harvard failed to adequately address severe doxxing attacks against its own students.

The email, which was signed by University President Alan M. Garber ’76 and 17 other top administrators, stated that doxxing and online harassment violates the University policies and that those policies will be enforced against affiliates who engage in online harassment against fellow Harvard affiliates.

“When doxing attacks, online or otherwise, have come from outside the Harvard community, as was primarily the case in the past year, we offered, and will continue to offer, affected members of our community guidance and tools to help them protect their privacy and, to the extent possible, manage their online footprint,” the administrators wrote.

“However, should a doxing attack on one Harvard affiliate come from another Harvard affiliate, we have additional responsibilities, and tools, for addressing such harassment,” they added.

The updated doxxing and online harassment guidance was also endorsed by the Harvard Corporation — the University highest governing body, according to the email.

The administrators also defined doxxing that violates the University’s policies as the public sharing or resharing of personal information, including personal address, email, phone number, and class schedule, with the intention to provoke “harmful interpersonal aggression.”

The email also encouraged affiliates who have experienced doxxing to contact their designated resources at their respective schools to enforce the University’s policies.

Harvard’s top administration faced backlash last fall from some students who criticized the University as slow to respond to doxxing attacks and intense online harassment against undergraduate students after more than 30 student groups that signed on to a controversial statement, which held Israel “entirely responsible for all unfolding violence” after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

Many members of the groups that signed onto the statement faced intense online harassment and doxxing, with their personal information posted online. Later in the semester, a doxxing truck sponsored by the Jewish Leadership Project drove around Harvard square displaying the names and faces of members of the signing groups, with a caption labeling them “Harvard’s Leading Antisemites.”

Though the Dean of Students Office announced in late October the formation of a task force to support students who experienced doxxing, many of the students who were doxxed criticized the University’s response to the online harassment as slow and insufficient.

The doxxing attacks against Harvard students continued into the spring. In April, another billboard truck drove through the square, displaying the names of several Harvard Law School students. The same month, some Muslim students confronted Garber at an iftar event and criticized the administration’s handling of last year’s doxxing attacks.

University leadership wrote in Thursday’s email that they will revise the guidance in two years following feedback from faculty, students, and staff.

“We must acknowledge that policies alone cannot eliminate digital and other harassment or the harms they inflict,” Thursday’s email read. “To be the Harvard we aspire to be, we must create an academic and work environment that cultivates not only vigorous debate and dialogue but also mutual respect.”

—Staff writer Madeleine A. Hung can be reached at madeleine.hung@thecrimson.com.

—Staff writer Azusa M. Lippit can be reached at azusa.lippit@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @azusalippit or on Threads @azusalippit.