The University of Michigan's faculty governance body condemned anonymous groups that visited employees' homes at night to intimidate them.

The groups banged on doors and shined lights through windows, targeting people linked to the planned computing center with Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs (SACUA) approved the written statement Wednesday, Sept. 9, and published it Thursday, Sept. 10. The statement said the groups chanted against the data center during the nighttime visits.

SACUA did not identify who was targeted or how many incidents occurred. The statement described the victims only as university community members believed to be associated with the UM-LANL computing center.

The committee said it supports freedom of expression and peaceful protest but categorically condemns violence, threats, intimidation, doxxing and harassment. It called the targeting of individuals with threatening behavior contrary to democracy and academic values.

The perpetrators remain unidentified. SACUA said it makes no assumptions about who carried out the visits and urged all university community members to recommit to peaceful protest and deliberation.

No law enforcement response or university police statement about the incidents has surfaced publicly.

The statement lands amid escalating tension over the $1.2 billion computing center planned for a 144-acre site on Textile Road in Ypsilanti Township. At a community town hall the same day SACUA approved its statement, nearly 50 residents spoke during public comment, all opposing the project, according to The Sun Times News. At times, shouting and interruptions drowned out university officials.

Ypsilanti Township Supervisor Brenda Stumbo told university officials at the Sept. 9 town hall, "The emotion and the rage is fear … Please, change your mind," according to The Michigan Daily.

Residents at the town hall said only the U-M Board of Regents has the authority to stop the project. The regents are next scheduled to meet Thursday, Sept. 17. A second community town hall is set for 5:30–7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 1, at the Ann Arbor Marriott Ypsilanti at Eagle Crest and online, according to Planet Detroit.