The College Fix

Previously criticized ‘suppression’ of free speech – but he tore down posters

A Harvard University librarian is “no longer affiliated” with the school after video circulated of him tearing down posters of children taken hostage, and killed, by Hamas.

Jonathan Tuttle previously worked as a “cataloguer of published materials” according to The Crimson – but ironically, he is no longer at Harvard after destroying materials.

The Radcliffe Institute librarian “was filmed tearing down a poster showing the faces of Israeli hostages during a Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine rally on March 3,” according to the student newspaper.

The posters were of the “Bibas brothers,” two young boys, who were killed by Hamas. As part of a recent ceasefire deal, the bodies were returned to the family for burial. The boys were 9 months old and four years old when Hamas kidnapped them soon after the October 7, 2023 terrorist attack, according to the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem.

Daily Wire reporter Kassy Akiva first drew attention to the destruction in a video she shared from a pro-Israel group with the account name “cambvoices4Israel.” Harvard Chabad also posted video of the destruction.

The destruction drew criticism from university leadership, including Sherri Charleston, Harvard’s top DEI official.

Yesterday, a Harvard employee was caught on camera ripping down posters of the Bibas brothers on campus.

That employee was wearing an ID badge with the name Jonathan Tuttle.

He is the cataloger of published materials at the library.pic.twitter.com/QXYaTOBkZH

— Kassy Akiva (@KassyAkiva) March 4, 2025

Radcliffe Institute Dean Tomiko Brown-Nagin also criticized Tuttle, according to the student newspaper.

“I strongly support the right of all Americans and all members of our community to protest in support of positions that we hold dear,” Brown-Nagin wrote.

“But disruptive behaviors—including property destruction or defacement and acts of vandalism that seek to suppress or censor the speech of others—are not protected speech,” she said further, according to The Crimson. “They are behaviors that constitute misconduct; they violate multiple Harvard and Radcliffe rules and may also be punished under criminal law.”

Tuttle previously expressed supported for 30 pro-Palestinian activists who held a silent “study-in” at the Widener Library in Sep. 2024 to protest the killing of suspected Hezbollah members who died when their rigged beepers exploded. Demonstrators received a two week ban from the library.

But Tuttle, along with fellow librarian Maya Bergamasco, said the activists were unfairly punished for protesting “genocide.”

They wrote in a Nov. 7 opinion piece:

We fail to see how studying silently amounts to a disruption, and we reject the bans issued in response. We write to let study-in participants know that there are library workers who stand in solidarity with them. We are not alone: Many of our colleagues support these sit-ins but did not join us in authoring this piece out of fear of repercussion.

The Harvard library system runs on the labor of library workers like us, many of whom believe a genocide is taking place in Gaza, call on Harvard to divest from that genocide, and applaud the study-ins. The decision to bar patrons from the library was made by central library administration, who then compelled local library leaders, security workers, and library staff to follow their mandate, often against their own moral compasses.

Tuttle, who was caught on video tearing down posters, criticized the “suppression” of voices.

“Libraries are not neutral — no institution or body of people can ever truly be,” he wrote. “In fact, claiming neutrality creates a chilling effect and facilitates the suppression of dissenting voices by mainstream ones.”

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IMAGE: Harvard Chabad/Instagram

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