Mark Bray, a history professor at Rutgers University, has left the United States for Spain after receiving a series of death threats tied to his research and outspoken views on anti-fascism. Bray, who has been nicknamed "Dr. Antifa" by students and conservative commentators, became the center of a heated campus and national debate after President Donald Trump officially designated antifa as a domestic terrorist organization on September 22, 2025, according to reporting from Newsweek and The Associated Press.
The threats against Bray and his family began to escalate after the Rutgers chapter of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) and other conservative groups accused him of being a prominent member of antifa. These accusations, amplified by a widely circulated online petition, led to calls for his removal from the faculty. The petition, which garnered over 1,500 signatures, labeled Bray a "well-known antifa member" and highlighted his 2017 bestseller, Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook, as evidence of his alleged extremist views.
Bray, however, has consistently denied any direct involvement with antifa. Speaking to The Guardian, he clarified, "I am not now, nor have I ever been, part of any kind of antifascist or anti-racist organization – I just haven’t. I’m a professor." He has maintained that his work is rooted in academic research and teaching, not activism. In an interview with The New York Times, he reiterated, "My role in this is as a professor. I’ve never been part of an antifa group, and I’m not currently. There’s an effort underway to paint me as someone who is doing the things that I’ve researched, but that couldn’t be further from the truth."
The controversy intensified after Bray’s book was cited by critics as promoting militant tactics. Conservative students, including Megyn Doyle, treasurer of the Rutgers TPUSA chapter, told Fox News, "You have a teacher that so often promotes political violence, especially in his book ‘Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook,’ which talks about militant fascism, which is on term with political violence." The petition against Bray also referenced his public support for the International Anti-Fascist Defense Fund, which provides legal and medical aid to individuals accused in connection with anti-fascist and anti-racist activism, including a high-profile incident at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Texas in 2024.
Bray responded to these criticisms by explaining to The Guardian that proceeds from his book go "to help with the legal or medical costs of people facing charges for organizing pertaining to anti-fascism or anti-racism," and he emphasized that antifa is not a centralized organization but rather a loosely affiliated movement.
The threats against Bray and his family became particularly severe after his home address was leaked online, a tactic known as doxxing. One chilling message declared, “I’m gonna burn your house down and kill you as you come running out.” In response, Bray and his wife, who is also a professor at Rutgers, made arrangements to teach the remainder of the semester remotely from Spain. Their initial attempt to leave the country on October 8, 2025, was thwarted when their flight reservation from Newark Liberty International Airport was mysteriously canceled at the last minute. Bray posted on Bluesky, “‘Someone’ cancelled my family’s flight out of the country at the last second. We got our boarding passes. We checked our bags. Went through security. Then at our gate our reservation ‘disappeared.’” The airline rebooked them for the following day, and they successfully departed on October 9.
Rutgers University, for its part, offered additional security for Bray’s classroom, but he declined, feeling the measures were insufficient. The university issued a statement to The New York Times reaffirming its “commitment to providing a secure environment — to learn, teach, work and research — where all members of our community can share their opinions without fear of intimidation or harassment.”
The campaign against Bray has not gone unchallenged. Rutgers faculty unions, including the Rutgers AAUP-AFT and the Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union, released a joint statement condemning the efforts to oust Bray as an attack on academic freedom. Todd Wolfson, president of the American Association of University Professors and a Rutgers faculty member, was unequivocal: “There is no place in American higher education for death threats against professors. We stand with Professor Bray against this gross assault on academic freedom and freedom of speech.”
Meanwhile, a counter-petition calling for the disbandment of the Rutgers TPUSA chapter has gained traction, amassing over 4,900 signatures. The petition alleges that TPUSA has "continuously promoted hate speech and incited violence against our community," contributing to a "toxic environment that has already led to tragic consequences." Supporters argue that the organization’s presence undermines the university’s values of diversity, inclusion, and respect, and they urge Rutgers leadership to take decisive action to ensure campus safety.
The debate over Bray’s employment and the broader issues of academic freedom, campus safety, and political extremism have sparked intense discussion across the Rutgers community and beyond. While TPUSA has publicly stated it does not support threats or doxxing against anyone, its critics remain unconvinced, pointing to the group’s history of maintaining a watchlist of professors with left-leaning or controversial views.
Bray’s situation is emblematic of a larger national trend in which scholars and public intellectuals face increasing scrutiny and, in some cases, threats for their research and public engagement on contentious political topics. As Bray himself observed to Newsweek, "This is reflective of the broader trend in the country. The Trump administration, I believe, is moving the country in a markedly authoritarian direction and that takes a number of forms — but one of those forms is an attack on academic freedom and higher education."
President Trump’s executive order not only labeled antifa as a domestic terrorist organization but also granted the federal government authority to investigate anyone providing "material support" to the group. The order stated, “Individuals associated with and acting on behalf of Antifa further coordinate with other organizations and entities for the purpose of spreading, fomenting, and advancing political violence and suppressing lawful political speech. This organized effort designed to achieve policy objectives by coercion and intimidation is domestic terrorism.”
As the dust settles, both sides of the Rutgers controversy remain entrenched. Supporters of Bray argue that his departure marks a blow to academic freedom and sets a dangerous precedent for universities nationwide. Opponents insist that faculty should be held accountable for views and actions they perceive as promoting violence. For now, Bray continues his teaching and research from Spain, but the questions raised by his ordeal about speech, safety, and scholarship in American higher education are far from resolved.
