In this time of crackdowns and fear, we are responsible for keeping each other safe. Safety does not mean protection from ideas we do not like, but rather, freedom from persecution for these ideas. The freedom to explore and express our ideas is foundational to our mission: “By being a nonsectarian university that welcomes students, teachers and staff of every nationality, religion and orientation, Brandeis renews the American heritage of cultural diversity, equal access to opportunity and freedom of expression.”

This political moment — one of repression, antagonism and cruelty at the hands of the federal government and its agencies  —  demands clear-eyed defenses of our students, our work as faculty and researchers and the value of higher education. The Trump Administration’s relentless attack on colleges and universities is a sign that they continue to matter. 

Here at Brandeis, our shared trust in core academic values is inspiring. We are buoyed by the over 125 faculty members from across the University who signed a letter calling for national unity among universities against threats to democracy and free expression. As part of the April 17 National Day of Action for Higher Education, the University’s new chapter of the American Association of University Professors circulated a letter in which faculty laid out their clear support for the University to fight back against “unlawful demands that threaten academic freedom and university self-governance.” Interim President Arthur Levine ’70 seems to be listening: a few days after receiving our letter, he signed onto a letter from the American Council of Colleges and Universities resolving to “speak with one voice against the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education” and to “oppose undue government intrusion …[and] reject the coercive use of public research funding.”

While solidarity across universities in the face of the federal government’s actions is important, we also need to address cultures of intimidation and harassment within Brandeis. The faculty’s letter called on the Brandeis administration to “defend the rights to free speech on campus … by assisting community members at risk of government infringement on this right …. [and to] protect students by developing a clear ‘anti-Doxxing’ policy based on our Handbook prohibitions on bullying, intimidation and harassment.” We are hopeful that the administration will act in this way, which also means rolling back the hastily and ill-considered mask ban that went out recently. This ban, perhaps unintentionally and certainly unnecessarily, instills fear in many students without a U.S. passport who fear being surveilled on campus and losing their right to express themselves freely. 

We are deeply disturbed by reports that some Brandeis students have been doxxed, allegedly by their peers. Doxxing is the “intentional revelation of a person’s private information online without their consent, often with malicious intent.” Whatever one feels about the political viewpoints being expressed by community members on campus, all of us can agree on the need to protect others’ rights to express their thoughts and sentiments. Free inquiry and exchange are the bedrock of higher education.

Doxxing, however, is not just a challenge to our shared intellectual enterprise. It is a vicious act with terrible consequences, as recent events at other Boston-area universities remind us. The whole world watched in horror when Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts University P.h.D student and Fulbright scholar, was abducted off the streets of Somerville by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. In ICE detention, she has suffered asthma attacks without proper treatment and had her hijab removed without her permission. All of that happened because somebody doxxed her in response to an op-ed she wrote in her own student newspaper — just as we are writing here today.

Perspectives about the war in Gaza vary on campus, but that is not a reason for us to abandon our usual Brandeisian standard: to treat one another with respect and to value the perspectives of others so that we can all learn from one another. In this light, it should be clear that doxxing is targeted harassment and has no place at Brandeis. Taking a picture of a classmate with the express purpose of harassing and intimidating them is against the code of conduct.

We know that all situations may not be so black and white — for example, what if you take a picture that someone else posts online? But it is precisely because of these uncertainties and their deleterious consequences that we implore members of our community to exercise restraint. We live in an era where taking pictures and videos of strangers for online commentary has, unfortunately, become normal. We all need to be better informed about the potential harm of circulating someone’s picture or identity on a variety of platforms, including email and messaging apps.

Doxxing, which, horrifically, has led to ICE detention, cannot be an activity that our University tolerates. We call on the senior administration to include explicit anti-doxxing language in the Student Code of Conduct, as well as communicating clearly to students that doxxing, including reporting community members’ views to retaliatory outsiders, is a violation under the Rights and Responsibilities section 2.10 bans on bullying, intimidation and harassment. We also call on senior administration to make sure that community members outside of Brandeis are not allowed to come to campus to record our students, as occurred at the most recent Brandeis Jewish Bund action. But ultimately, this is a call for us all to show we know what community means. We all know when we are intending to harm someone. Whether our actions meet the definition of harassment in a code of conduct is too low a bar.

In this moment of authoritarianism, we must go above and beyond to protect what is sacred. That includes our founding mission and, most importantly, our community members, whether we have shared viewpoints or not. Without that, Brandeis ceases to be Brandeis.