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‘Traced individuals to positions throughout some of America’s most influential organizations’
Political activist James O’Keefe has named several individuals with Rutgers and Princeton universities as participants in a private Signal group that he described as Antifa-styled.
The individuals named in O’Keefe’s report declined to comment on the allegations, and neither university responded to questions from The College Fix about whether officials had reviewed the claims.
Last fall, President Trump declared Antifa a domestic terror organization.
On June 16, O’Keefe posted on X that a journalist affiliated with O’Keefe Media Group, or OMG, had spent time “undercover” in private Signal chats associated with “NJ BURN,” which O’Keefe described as an Antifa-related group.
O’Keefe released the names and affiliations of identifiable members of individuals he said were members of the chat, including former Democratic political candidates and individuals associated with the National Lawyers Guild and American Civil Liberties Union Board of Directors.
The post has gone viral, viewed 3.7 million times as of June 30.
Among those named were several individuals affiliated with Rutgers University and Princeton University, some of whom are also involved in pro-Palestinian activism.
“What we uncovered proves ANTIFA is not just an idea. It is a network of real people organizing, coordinating, and operating inside America,” O’Keefe posted on X.
“Inside the group’s Signal chats, members discussed plans for port blockades, riot activity, support networks for criminal defendants, and celebrated acts of political violence. Using names, profile photos, and digital receipts, OMG traced individuals to positions throughout some of America’s most influential organizations.”
Rutgers-affiliated individuals named in the report include an imaging director in its neuroscience department. Following the release of O’Keefe’s report, Rutgers removed the employee’s faculty page from the website, and her LinkedIn page was reportedly deleted as well. The faculty member did not respond to The Fix’s inquiry sent to a Rutgers-affiliated email.
Another named in the report is a Ph.D. student in Education at Rutgers’ Graduate School of Education. Her graduate biography page remains active and lists her research interests as including “language justice,” “social justice,” and “equity.”
According to her Rutgers biography, her research focuses on the impact of language on “undocumented communities’ quality of life,” with a specialization in community organizing.
The College Fix contacted the student through a Rutgers-affiliated email address listed on her biography page to ask whether she believes O’Keefe’s claims are accurate. The Fix also asked whether she agrees with the characterization that Antifa is “a network of real people organizing, coordinating, and operating inside America.” She did not respond.
Princeton-affiliated individuals identified by O’Keefe include a professor in Princeton University’s Classics Department and a field education director at Princeton Theological Seminary. The professor’s bio states her “intellectual commitments” are “inseparable” from “decolonization, demilitarization, and abolition.”
“At Princeton I organize with the movement for graduate student unionization through Princeton Graduate Student United and with the movement for institutional divestment from genocide through Princeton Israeli Apartheid Divest,” her biography reads.
She previously participated in events related to pro-Palestinian activism, including a panel titled “In Solidarity with Palestine: A Roundtable with the Critical Ancient World Studies Collective and Everyday Orientalism.”
The field education director at Princeton Theological Seminary previously studied at Princeton Theological Seminary and is also on the leadership board of the Palestine Justice Network, an organization affiliated with the Presbyterian Church USA.
She is also an outspoken critic of U.S. military support for Israel and once argued on Instagram that “the same powers of empire that crucified [Jesus]” are now “carrying out a genocide in Gaza, terrorizing immigrants in the US, and funding a devastating and violent war of aggression in Lebanon and Iran.”
The College Fix contacted New Jersey’s Office of the Secretary of Higher Education to ask whether the agency was aware of the allegations and whether it planned to review the claims.
Cecilia Williams, spokesperson for the Office of the Secretary of Higher Education, told The Fix that the organization “declines to comment.”
The College Fix also contacted Rutgers University Media Relations and Princeton University Media Relations via email to ask whether the universities were aware of O’Keefe’s reporting and whether they had reviewed or responded to the allegations.
Neither university responded to The Fix’s multiple requests for comment.
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