I'm not quite understanding your initial reference. As for students adding their names it would serve an important function that is linked to your perception that it would put a target on their back. They would be assuming risk. That is why it would take courage. You can't do anything without assuming risk. You can be somebody, ascend in the social hierarchy etc., but you can't do anything important. If they can't assume such risk now, they won't later. Well, maybe after they're retired like Philip above. Any retaliation on the part of the school just feeds into the overall fight that needs to be had if there's to be any hope of restoring the honor and integrity to the institution. Conversely, if they are retaliated against it appropriately accelerates the loss of prestige of the institution by providing clear and obvious evidence of moral bankruptcy. By leading in such a manner and dealing effectively with any retaliation they would also set a positive example for their peers, not to mention people like you. Unfortunately, the don't seem to have any faith in themselves, and you don't have any faith that they could succeed in a confrontation where we both agree they would clearly be in the right. Ivy league undergrads should be our nation's best and brightest, if they lack the competence to challenge obviously corrupt and incompetent institutional power when they clearly understand it is the right thing to do, then this is a massive spiritual loss. Perhaps looking to the example of Robert Barnes confronting Yale as an undergrad in the 1990s can help you understand what is possible here. He quit Yale out of protest after being offered a sweet backroom deal, but has gone on to be a great success nevertheless. If these students were to follow in the footsteps of Barnes it would be a great thing for each of them spiritually and for all Americans.

As for me, I've assumed risk confronting DoD as an AD soldier, and I'll continue to do so as long as the oath I swore to the constitution compels such. I might have the opportunity to do so in an academic setting starting next summer, and perhaps other opportunities thereafter. I anticipate confronting an academic institution engaged in wrongdoing if it comes to that to be much less harrowing, frankly.