Overview

• Julia Xu was identified as the student who said, “We need to bring back political assassinations,” adding that not everyone deserves free speech.
• Xu said the comments came during a five-minute class “hot take” in a course on modern China, citing Mao’s rationale for denying speech to “reactionaries” and “capitalists.”
• She told the New York Post she is “deeply remorseful,” does not advocate political violence, and wrongly implied faculty or peer agreement.
• The original video was deleted after circulating widely online, and her social media accounts were reportedly privatized or removed.
• Oberlin President Carmen Twillie Ambar said the post does not reflect the college or the professor and reiterated that political violence has no place in civic life, with no disciplinary or legal actions reported in these accounts.