Another False Alarm?

Via the Geller Report:

As the manhunt rages on, a move by Brown University caused a massive row, sparking speculation that it could be linked to Saturday’s shooting. On Tuesday, users on social media noticed that the university had taken down the profile of a first-year student, Mustapha Kharbouch.

The profile of Kharbouch, where he was identified as a first-year student of International Affairs and Anthropology with a focus on the Middle East, no longer exists on the website of Brown University. On opening the link, users were led to a ‘Page Not Found’ message.

Social media erupted with the revelation, sparking speculation whether the removal was in any way linked to the shooting. However, the University has not officially commented on why the page was removed. No credible reports link it to the shooting.

But this situation is a creature of Brown's own handling of the shooting -- complete silence, except that leaks routinely emerge from the investigation. Mark Halperin, for instance, said this in the video I embedded yesterday:

If I were editing The New York Times, I don't think I'd put it in the paper, but people are telling me that the family of Ella Cook, the Alabama young woman who was a sophomore, has been told that she was the target of what happened at Brown. I have no idea whether that's true, there's other theories about why the person did what they did . . . but if it's true that she was targeted, that's a big story . . .

But it was Halperin's own remarks that drove the whole "targeted" buzz yesterday, because of course, it's a big story. What feeds it, and the Kharbouch story, is complete silence from Brown and Providence civic leadership, while it's strongly implied in Halperin's remarks that someone from the investigation has been talking to the Cook family, but no equivalent public statement has been made regarding whether investigators do in fact think the shootings were targeted.

So nobody knows, except the message being sent is that somebody knows, it's just the public doesn't get to hear it. The same thing happened with the case of Benjamin Erickson Sunday. Providence authorities announced they had a "person of interest" "in custody". But then "sources" leaked he'd "driven 17 hours from Wisconsin". He had guns and ammuntition in his hotel room. No, they corrected the leak, he lived in a DC apartment. Then they leaked his name and they were gonna dig up his mental health history, which was probably extensive.

But then all of a sudden. he's released, no evidence, no reason to hold him, apparently no reason even to leak his mental history.

Then people on social media begin to notice that Mustapha Kharbouch, a pudgy Brown student and strident Palestinian activist, kinda looked like the figure in the grainy security footage and might be the sort of person who'd target people. In response, Brown scrubs his on-line presence and accuses people of doxing him. See something, say something, but not really! We want real tips, not hysterical speculation! We simply can't figure out what the shooter shouted when he opened fire!

Here's the real problem. I worked in the contingency planning and crisis management fields at various times, and all I can say is that Brown is doing it all wrong. It clearly has a crisis on its hands -- as I pointed out, the application deadline for fall 2026 is this coming January 5. This is the worst possible time for prospective applicants to see Brown fumbling its campus security, yet officially, Brown is pretending it just doesn't have a problem.

So, do you want to go to all that trouble to assemble a multi-part application package and include the $80 fee when the place is unsafe? Just reassemble some stuff, edit the text files, and send it off to Cornell, Amherst, Williams, or other safety school of your choice, preferably a rural environment, huh? In fact, in terms of potential damage to Brown's reputation, I would put it, at least right now, close to the 1996 TWA 800 disaster. I ased Chrome AI mode, "Did the TWA 800 disaster damage TWA's reputation?" It answered,

Yes, the TWA Flight 800 disaster severely damaged Trans World Airlines' reputation and finances, leading to lawsuits and public scrutiny, even though investigations concluded the crash was an accident (fuel tank explosion) and not terrorism, but the company struggled under the weight of the tragedy, contributing to its eventual demise.

Brown is already reeling from an agreement with the Trump administration last July to restore merit-based admissions and hiring, adhere to the administration's definition of "male" and "female", refrain from performing gender-reassignment surgery on minors, and discourage anti-Semitism.

The agreement had already pointed out "Brown’s failure to address anti-Semitism and ensure fair treatment for all students" and "urgent concerns about student safety and equal opportunities". Ermerging details of the shooting and surrounding circumstances may focus additional attention on these issues, especially if coverage suggests continuing complacency in the Brown administration.

The best way for organizations to deal with a crisis like this is to appoint a single spokesperson with authority to address all questions, including those that could make the university look bad. The way to address the question of why the universiy had so few cameras that covered the shooting and surrounding campus area, for instance, would be to show the issue was so urgent that security forces are installing more cameras now -- and the head of campus security is leaving, too.

The FBI's response to TWA 800 was perfect, at least for the FBI: it made James Kallstrom the spokesperson, who as a figure of blunt integrity probably bought the FBI ten or a dozen years of prestige following the Ruby Ridge standoff and Waco massacre, although the help he gave the FBI didn't rub off on TWA, who had no equivalent figure to represent it. Kallstrom remains the paradigmatic crisis manager.

Instead, Brown is leaving all public statements to the Providence police chief, Colonel Oscar Perez, a Colombian immigrant who speaks English with a barrio accent; and its openly gay mayor, Brett Smiley, who is married to Jim DeRentis, the city's first "First Gentleman". When they speak, they're flanked by a sign-language interpreter who upstages them completely. As of yesterday, a story in the Providence Journal summarized their performance:

As the hunt continues for the man who shot and killed two students and injured nine others in a Brown University lecture hall on Dec. 13, social media platforms have been filled with anger, frustration and questions about why officials are telling people they're safe.

All of those reactions were encapsulated in this post on Reddit by "Matt," the 33-year-old father of an 11-month-old who recently moved from Providence to East Providence: "So … let me get this straight. A guy just shoots 11 people in one of the tiniest, most walkable cities in the country ... 400 cops and the FBI ... No alerts. People in walking distance of the shooting straight up not knowing anything’s wrong for like two hours. . ."

But this is what we get:

Longtime source in Rhode Island tells me Providence Police are indeed looking into the student whose online presence was scrubbed today. Higher-ups want it close hold. Said that Brown U runs Providence, and Brown president is anti-police

— Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) December 16, 2025

Higher-ups want it close hold, so they can leak what suits them to leak. I can only think something's going to break wide open here.