Rutgers Professor Says He Has To Leave Country After Getting Death Threats

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — A Rutgers professor who wrote a bestselling book about anti-fascism said he has to leave the country after he received multiple death threats, including one that listed his home address.

Professor Mark Bray, an assistant teaching professor in the Rutgers history department, told his students in an email he sent Oct. 5 that he is relocating his family to Europe, and will teach the rest of his fall courses virtually, North Jersey.com first reported.

One of Bray's students first posted his email here to Reddit. In it, Bray said he has received multiple death threats for his work, and the most recent one included his home address.

"This weekend, shortly after some negative media and social media attention (some of which, ironically enough, accused me of being a 'terrorist'), I received another death threat and a separate threat that included my home address," he told students in the email. "Since my family and I do not feel safe in our home at the moment, we are moving for the year to Europe."

Bray said he received the death threats one day after Fox News published this Change.org petition launched by the Rutgers chapter of Turning Point USA, the conservative political student group started by the late Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated on Sept. 10.

The petition calls for Rutgers to fire Bray because it alleges he is a member of Antifa, a left-wing political movement. The Rutgers Turning Point USA chapter alleges Bray does not just write about Antifa, but that he is aligned with the movement.

The petition also linked to this interview and this 2017 interview with Chuck Todd on "Meet the Press;" Turning Point USA alleges Bray endorsed political violence in both interviews.

A Rutgers spokeswoman told Patch Tuesday the university is aware of the petition, and also aware of Bray's message to his students. The university said it is investigating.

"The university is aware of the Change.org petition regarding Professor Mark Bray and Dr. Bray’s message to his students," said the Rutgers spokeswoman. "We are gathering more information about this evolving situation."

According to Bray's academic profile on the Rutgers website, his academic specialties are the Occupy Wall Street movement, terrorism, modern Germany, human rights, antifascism, anarchism and communism. He is the author of four books, including the national best-seller Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook, published in 2017 and is also the author of Translating Anarchy: The Anarchism of Occupy Wall Street, published in 2013 and where he interviewed 192 members of the New York City Occupy Wall Street movement. He previously was a professor at Dartmouth University.