Haverford College Religion Professor Charged With Cyberstalking, Antisemitic Threats
Associate professor Guangtian Ha was arrested and indicted on cyberstalking charges after allegedly creating anonymous accounts to post antisemitic threats targeting a colleague.
Haverford Professor Arrested for Antisemitic Cyberstalking of Colleague
Federal prosecutors are seeking to keep a Haverford College professor detained pending trial on a cyberstalking charge, 6abc.com reports, after authorities say he ran a months-long antisemitic harassment campaign against a coworker.
Guangtian Ha, an associate professor of religion at the Pennsylvania liberal arts college, was arrested Tuesday. College leadership issued a statement the same day describing what it called "heinous online attacks" that were "antisemitic in nature."
A federal grand jury indicted Ha on September 30. According to court documents, the cyberstalking began exactly one year before the indictment.
Prosecutors allege Ha created four anonymous accounts on X and used them to send dozens of threatening posts directed at a coworker and the coworker's family. Among the messages were warnings to "watch out" and references to a "cleansing of Jewish people from Lower Merion," the township where the victim lives. In one post, Ha allegedly replied to the victim's own content with a photograph of the victim's mailbox and home address. In another, he wrote "cameras won't help you" — a message officials say indicated real-time surveillance of the property.
Investigators said they traced the IP addresses associated with the anonymous accounts to Ha's home in Haverford.
The victim, according to court documents, installed security cameras and asked Google Maps to blur their home address in response to the threats. Prosecutors say Ha also threatened the victim's children.
The most recent post cited in the case came on Monday — one day before the arrest — when Ha allegedly told the victim to send their children outside to play.
Lori Lowenthal Marcus, legal director of The Deborah Project, called the conduct alarming. "That's terrifying. He should've been stopped long before this," she said. "When someone claims they hate you and want to kill you, believe it. And for too long Jews have been threatened."
The Deborah Project represented a group that sued Haverford College in 2024 over antisemitism concerns and reached a settlement in August requiring the college to take proactive steps to address the issue. Ha appeared in the original lawsuit — which was ultimately dismissed — where he faced similar allegations of posting threatening messages targeting Jewish people.
Haverford College declined a request for an interview but released a statement condemning Ha's actions. A college official confirmed Ha is barred from campus and placed on administrative leave. He had been on sabbatical for the entire academic year and was not actively teaching.
A detention hearing is scheduled for Friday afternoon.
Source: NYT US News