Harvard students, affiliates receive bizarre death threats via email
Several hundred Harvard University students and affiliates received a threatening email Friday, followed by apologies on Saturday and Sunday.
In the first email, from a "hotmail.de" address, the writer said that he or she would come to Harvard on Saturday and "shoot all of you." The Harvard Crimson reports that many of the recipients were women of Asian descent, and the author called them "slit-eyes." Some Harvard students received the same message in a second email, this time from a Google Mail address.
On Saturday, another email was sent, from someone apologizing for the previous email and saying it had actually been sent by a younger brother, who did not plan on doing anything. The author of the second email claimed to be 15 years old and living in France, and a similar message was sent to hundreds of Harvard affiliates Sunday morning as well.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A safety advisory went out over the weekend, and a public event about the experiences of Asian American students at Harvard was postponed. Campus security was increased, with more uniformed and plainclothes officers on duty, and the FBI was notified. Students were asked to report anything suspicious to the authorities.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Saudi Arabia could become an AI focal pointUnder the Radar A state-backed AI project hopes to rival China and the United States
-
What you need to know about last-minute travelThe Week Recommends You can book an awesome trip with a moment’s notice
-
Codeword: October 29, 2025The Week's daily codeword puzzle
-
Penn wipes trans swimmer records in deal with Trumpspeed read The University of Pennsylvania will bar transgender students from its women's sports teams and retroactively strip a trans female swimmer of her titles
-
Supreme Court may bless church-run charter schoolsSpeed Read The case is 'one of the biggest on church and state in a generation'
-
Harvard sues Trump over frozen grant moneySpeed Read The Trump administration withheld $2.2 billion in federal grants and contracts after Harvard rejected its demands
-
Harvard loses $2.3B after rejecting Trump demandsspeed read The university denied the Trump administration's request for oversight and internal policy changes
-
USC under fire for canceling valedictorian speechSpeed Read Citing safety concerns, the university canceled a pro-Palestinian student's speech
-
Florida teachers can 'say gay' under settlementspeed read The state reached a settlement with challengers of the 2022 "Don't Say Gay" education law
-
Biden administration to forgive $39B in student loan debt for 800K borrowersSpeed Read
-
Advocacy groups challenge Harvard's legacy admissions policySpeed Read
