Tim Tai

The Yale College Council passed a bill calling to expand Yale’s anti-doxxing protections and disciplinary procedures.

As the Trump administration continues its targeted deportations of students for their political activities, student protesters face renewed concerns of doxxing, or the publishing of their private information online. The YCC called on Yale to establish a clear policy prohibiting doxxing, commit to providing legal aid to victims of doxing and affirm the right of student protesters to wear face masks. The bill passed in the YCC via a proxy quorum vote. 

“With students across the country facing unprecedented threats to their right to exercise free speech on college campuses, it’s more critical now than ever before that Yale commits unwaveringly to protecting its students,” said Sovy Pham ’27, a senator from Saybrook College and the principal author of the YCC anti-doxxing bill.

Several websites and social media platforms that publish information about pro-Palestinian students and professors have gained national attention amid Trump’s deportations of pro-Palestine student protesters. Some even call on the Trump administration to deport individuals whom they have found to be noncitizens.

Mahmoud Khalil and Rumeysa Ozturk, two pro-Palestine international students at Columbia and Tufts, respectfully, who were both detained by the Trump administration, were featured on the Canary Mission, a website which asserts its mission is to “document[] people and groups that promote hatred of the USA, Israel and Jews” and has information on hundreds of students and professors from universities across the country. 

While some of the deported students were featured on the Canary Mission, or Betar, an organization that publishes similar information, the Trump administration has denied that they use such websites to guide arrests.

Currently, Yale’s website on “Resources for doxing and other online abuse and harassment” advises that students contact Yale Police Officers, whose email and phone numbers are listed on the site. 

Sergeant Kristina Reech, former sensitive crimes and support coordinator for the Yale Police Department, whose phone number is listed on this website, explained that the officer would listen to the student’s report of doxxing and help them determine next steps.

Depending on the circumstances, the officer could help the student file a report to investigate the source of the doxxing, receive basic safety tips, work with Yale to remove their information from the University directory or connect with the Title IX office if the case also involved sexual harassment, per Reech.

“The first and most important thing is listening,” Reech said. “When the university put out [the informational website], they wanted to give an additional resource of somebody who would listen and who is trained in trauma policing and therefore understands that these are serious calls for students.”

The YCC proposal argues that current policies on doxxing are “largely external to the university’s bureaucratic infrastructure and ask that students/Yale community members take individual action to protect themselves from further harassment.” It suggests that a Yale office, such as the Office of Institutional Equity and Accessibility, be mainly responsible for handling student doxxing and offering guidance.

The proposal also argues that Yale establish a clear policy on doxxing, which it currently does not have, modeling it on universities like Stanford University, Columbia and Harvard, all of which prohibit doxxing in their disciplinary codes.

“There is a policy on recording people and photographing them without their permission, which is often a prerequisite for doxxing, or at least it’s an element of doxxing,” explained Dean of Yale College Pericles Lewis. “Doxxing is also hard to define and some things that might be described as doxxing might not be against the harassment rules because they’re things that we can’t control.”

The YCC proposal also asked Yale to commit to providing “full legal counsel and resources for students who are victims of doxxing” and “policy of non-disclosure of student records, including disciplinary records, to third parties.”

University President Maurie McInnis emphasized that Yale is focusing on understanding and following the law amid the Trump administration’s attempts to deport international students and scholars, in some cases citing evidence of the student’s disciplinary record. Yale administrators had previously asserted that they will offer short-term legal assistance to international students at risk of deportation and not provide information to government agents without a judicial subpoena.

The YCC proposal also asks that Yale make a public commitment to free speech protections and “affirm the right of students to wear masks during protests and political demonstrations” to protect their identities from doxxing. Preventing protesters from concealing their identities has been a focal point of Trump’s attacks on universities. Columbia recently adopted a policy against masking to meet the demands of the Trump administration and restore their federal funding. 

Yale College does not currently have a policy against masking during protests. In a recent interview with the News, Lewis affirmed that he doesn’t “anticipate any changes” to this masking policy, but clarified that there is “a requirement that people show their ID when asked by a College or University employee who’s authorized.”

A spokesperson for the Sumud Coalition, Yale’s pro-Palestine activism group, endorsed the YCC’s resolution and called on Yale to do more to protect student protesters.

“Students should never have to fear for their safety for engaging in protest and free speech,” the spokesperson said.

The Yale College Council was founded in 1972.