Campus Alert Archive
Wellesley

Two men shout campaign slogans near a cultural house; allegations unsubstantiated

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MAthreat of violenceadvisorymedium confidence
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UnfoundedNo evidence of an actual threat was found. The institutional response is documented because the alert communication is identical to what would occur during a real incident.

On Wednesday, November 9, 2016, the day after the 2016 presidential election, two Babson College students drove around the Wellesley College campus shouting slogans from Donald Trump's campaign and stopped near Harambee House, Wellesley's African American cultural house. Some students alleged the men shouted slurs and that one spat at a student; a subsequent Babson College investigation did not substantiate those allegations and cleared the two students. Wellesley College President Paula Johnson released a campus-wide statement that day, and Babson President Kerry Healey followed with a forwarded apology.

Alerts
2
Response
—
Killed
0
Injured
0
Institution
Wellesley College
Private Liberal Arts · MA
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~2,400 studentsWellesley Emergency Alert (Rave Mobile Safety)
Official alert policy
Read when and how Wellesley says it will use WC Alert / WC BlueAlert (Rave Mobile Safety): summarized, quoted, and analyzed.
Documented Timeline

Alert Sequence

2 messages in sequence · 1 verified verbatim

Confirmed wording is transcribed character-for-character from a primary source. Use Verify this quote under each message to open that source in a new tab and compare the text yourself.

Some messages in this sequence are documented (their existence, timing, and channel are sourced) but their exact wording is not preserved in the public record. Those entries appear as placeholders; only confirmed text is displayed.

FOLLOW-UPEmail
Verified verbatim91 chars
This community's well-being—and all that word encompasses—is foremost on my mind right now.
Verify this quote
Excerpt from Wellesley College President Paula Johnson's November 9, 2016 campus-wide message, quoted in The Wellesley Newsthewellesleynews.comfind archived copies
Johnson's letter, issued on her first major test as president (she had begun her tenure on July 1, 2016), opened with this line, which The Wellesley News reproduced verbatim
The phrase 'this community's well-being' folded all members of the Wellesley community into the institutional response without prejudging the Babson investigation that was concurrently underway
Wellesley's full alert track on November 9 had two parts: the campus advisory from Public Safety (sequence 1) and Johnson's community letter (this sequence), only the Johnson sentence is publicly archived in verbatim form
Babson President Kerry Healey's forwarded apology, included in Johnson's communication, is reported in The Boston Globe but not preserved in verbatim form
Context

Background

Wellesley College is a private liberal arts women's college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, founded in 1870, and one of the original Seven Sisters colleges). With approximately 2,400 students, Wellesley has long been associated with women's leadership in US public life: Hillary Clinton ('69), Madeleine Albright ('59), and Soong Mei-ling ('17) are alumnae. On Wednesday, November 9, 2016 (the morning after the 2016 presidential election) two students from neighboring Babson College drove around the Wellesley campus shouting slogans from Donald Trump's campaign. They stopped near Harambee House, Wellesley's African American cultural house. Some students alleged the men harassed students of color and that one spat at a student. Wellesley Public Safety issued a campus advisory that afternoon, and President Paula Johnson followed with a campus-wide email that included a forwarded statement from Babson President Kerry Healey. Babson initially barred the two students from campus but later cleared them of any disciplinary violations, finding the allegations unsubstantiated, and lifted the ban after an investigation. The case is significant for the campus alert archive because it documents a politically charged hate-incident advisory at a women's college on the morning after a US presidential election, the kind of community-advisory message that does not meet Clery emergency-notification thresholds but is nevertheless a defining feature of modern campus communications. It is also a rare cross-institutional alert: the two individuals were students of one institution at the campus of another, requiring two presidents to coordinate the response.
Analysis

Key Findings

The incident occurred on November 9, 2016 (the day after the US presidential election) and is a documented example of post-election harassment targeting a women's college's African American cultural center
The Wellesley advisory and President Johnson's campus-wide message were issued the same day, illustrating the rapid 'community advisory' track for non-Clery hate incidents
The two individuals were Babson College students at a Wellesley site, producing an unusual cross-institutional alert with both presidents coordinating messaging
Babson initially banned the students and later cleared them; the divergence between Wellesley's framing of 'hate crime' and Babson's eventual 'no wrongdoing' finding became a continuing point of community contention
Harambee House was the symbolic and physical target, its specific identification as Wellesley's African American cultural center transformed the incident from harassment to alleged hate-targeting
Outcome
Babson College launched an immediate investigation and initially barred the two students, who were not publicly identified in this archive, from campus. In December 2016 Babson [cleared the two students of any disciplinary violations](https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/babson-students-cleared-of-wrongdoing-in-trump-taunts-at-wellesley-college/85993/), finding that available evidence did not substantiate the spitting or slur allegations and that the underlying speech was protected; the [campus ban was lifted](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/babson-lifts-ban-on-donald-trump-supporting-students/). Some Wellesley student organizations continued to object to the outcome. No physical injuries were reported.
Provenance

Sources

Every claim on this page is meant to be checkable. Open the links below (and the Verify this quote control under each confirmed alert) to read the original university, news, or archive page yourself. Hostnames are shown so you can see where you are going; archived copies survive when live pages move or disappear. See also our methodology.

  1. Student Paper
    Wellesley Community shaken after alleged hate crime perpetrated by Babson students - The Wellesley News
    thewellesleynews.com
    archived copy
  2. News
    Two Men Harass Wellesley Students Following Donald Trump's Win - Elite Daily
    elitedaily.com
    archived copy
  3. News
    Babson College lifts ban on 2 Trump supporting-students; lawyer wants apology - CBS News
    cbsnews.com
    archived copy
  4. News
    Babson Students Cleared of Wrongdoing in Trump Taunts at Wellesley College - NBC Boston
    nbcboston.com
    archived copy
  5. Official
    Harambee House - Wellesley College
    wellesley.edu
    archived copy
  6. Official
    Harambee House records - Wellesley College Archives
    archives.wellesley.edu
    archived copy
Cite this case

Campus Alert Archive. "Wellesley College: Two men shout campaign slogans near a cultural house; allegations unsubstantiated." Incident of November 9, 2016. Added May 2026; last updated July 2026. https://campusalertarchive.com/case/wellesley-college-harambee-house-incident-2016-11-09/

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Alert text quoted on this page remains the work of the issuing institution; the archive is a secondary source.

Tags
threat-of-violencehate-incidentwomens-collegeseven-sistersprivate-liberal-artsmassachusettspost-electionharambee-housewellesleycross-institutionalUnfounded
Added May 2026Updated July 2026Via ingestion