By Mark dela Cruz
The United States is often seen abroad as the country of free speech — a place where legal protections are strong and open debate is treated as a civic ideal. But a threat case involving a student journalist at the University of South Florida (USF) raises a harder question: whether those protections guarantee real freedom in practice, or whether the U.S., like other democracies, remains vulnerable to intimidation, reputational attacks, and fear once conflict moves beyond the level of ideas.
That question may feel familiar to us. Philippine law protects campus journalism through the Campus Journalism Act of 1991, which declares it a state policy to uphold and protect freedom of the press even at the campus level. Yet student journalists and young critics in the country have also faced harassment and public targeting, including a 2020 case in which the Commission on Human Rights criticized the harassment of a University of the East campus journalist and warned that criticism should not be treated as a crime.
In Florida, Abraham Albadawi, a student journalist at USF, said the case began in early February, when he discovered a letter placed inside his laptop bag while on campus. The letter, he said, was written in Morse code and referenced a bomb threat to Pasco County schools while also including his full name, home address, and details about his vehicle.
“I didn’t know who had access to my bag or who had that information,” Albadawi said. “That was the part that made it concerning.”
Albadawi said the incident was reported to law enforcement and led to several hours of questioning.
In the weeks that followed, he said, the situation expanded beyond the initial threat. On March 10, Albadawi said an online smear campaign began circulating on social media, later including posts that he described as containing partial information and false claims.
“It escalated quickly,” he said. “What started as half-truths quickly became lies.”
On March 15, Albadawi said an individual asked others for his full name, stating an intention to use data broker services to locate him. On March 30, he said the same individual stated that he had “a derringer” he wanted to show him, which Albadawi interpreted as a potential threat.
Albadawi said both incidents involved the same individual, whom he identified as a USF student. On April 8, he said the individual acknowledged making what he described as “loose threats.”
Taken together, he said, the incidents created a climate of uncertainty and concern, both online and offline.
City officials emphasized the importance of balancing open expression with student safety. “Free speech, disagreement, and debate are essential on college campuses because that’s how ideas are tested, challenged, and strengthened,” Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said in a statement provided through her office. “But that freedom must exist alongside a shared responsibility:
every student should feel safe, respected, and never threatened for expressing who they are or what they believe.”
Student leadership at USF echoed similar concerns.
“Every student should feel safe expressing themselves, even when their views differ from others,” said Emma Goodwin, a student government governor at USF. “When someone feels threatened, that’s something we have to take seriously.”
Goodwin added that disagreement is a normal part of university life but crosses a line when it becomes personal or creates fear.
“If communication shifts from challenging ideas to attacking individuals or creating fear, that’s no longer constructive dialogue and more so considered intimidation,” she said.
Student political organizations also pointed to a broader national climate.
“We live in America where we pride ourselves on freedom of expression and freedom of speech — and in this case, freedom of the press,” said Mike Fusella, president of USF’s College Republicans. “You should be able to pursue your journalistic work without looking over your shoulder or worrying for your life.”
Fusella said the case reflects a wider atmosphere of political tension.
“It shows the hyper-partisan environment we live in,” he said. “It hasn’t cooled down — it’s gotten worse, and people have lost that sense of civility and respect.”
He added that intimidation can have a chilling effect on students.
“Some students will be intimidated and stay silent,” Fusella said. “Others will push forward. But the fact that people are afraid to speak at all — that’s the problem.”
Jake Hoffman, head of the Tampa Bay Young Republicans, also argued that universities must respond firmly to threats.
“It’s absolutely the university’s responsibility to take threats on campus seriously and take action alongside proper law enforcement,” Hoffman said. “Universities are supposed to be sanctuaries of free expression for people to debate ideas.”
“Every time someone backs down after threats are made, it reinforces that the scare tactics work,” Hoffman added.
Albadawi said the experience reflects a broader issue of how quickly online narratives can develop and spread.
“Once those narratives take hold, they can be very difficult to reverse,” he said.
What gives the USF case broader significance is not simply that it happened in the United States, but that it complicates a familiar image of America as a place where strong legal protections automatically translate into security in everyday life. The law may protect speech, but cases like this suggest that public pressure, online escalation, and fear can still influence what people feel able to say.
In that sense, the case may be less an exception than a reminder that even democracies with strong speech traditions remain vulnerable to the same modern pressures: harassment, public targeting, reputational damage, and the quiet incentive to stay silent.
For Albadawi, the issue extends beyond a single incident. “This is about whether people can speak freely without fear or self-censorship,” he said. (Mark dela Cruz)
