Students Call for Beefed Security After Reported Rapes

After the first two stranger rapes in twelve years were reported at Harvard in the span of five days, some undergraduate student leaders are calling for the University to consider tightening its security policies and providing more safety measures for students.

The first reported incident, which occurred early in the morning on Aug. 10 in Harvard Yard, was followed by a second incident late in the evening on Aug. 14 near the intersection of Oxford and Kirkland streets. The two women who reported the rapes are not Harvard affiliates, and provided differing descriptions of their attackers, Harvard University Police Department spokesperson Steven G. Catalano said.

HUPD is currently investigating both cases, and has increased its security presence around campus, but some student leaders said they think additional changes should be considered in response to the reported attacks.

Undergraduate Council president Danny P. Bicknell ’13 called the incidents “very unsettling,” and said he would like to see University officials consider extending service hours for the shuttle, the evening van, and the Harvard University Campus Escort Program.

Currently, the shuttle operates from 5:45 a.m. to 4 a.m. on weekdays and from 7:30 a.m. to 5 a.m. on weekends. During the academic year, students can receive a ride from the evening van service until 3 a.m., while HUCEP provides walking escorts to students until 2 a.m. from Sunday to Wednesday, and until 3 a.m. from Thursday to Saturday.

Bicknell also said he hopes University officials will evaluate whether more lighting or emergency blue light call boxes need to be installed around campus, and whether the police presence in Cambridge needs to be increased.

“These issues are definitely going to have to be re-examined to make sure that security is always the top priority and that there are no lapses in current security measures,” Bicknell said.

Amanda I. Morejon ’13—co-director of Response, a group that offers peer counseling about sexual assault and other issues—also advocated changes to evening shuttle services.

Morejon, who said she has often walked back to the Quad from the stadium after midnight due to what she described as the infrequency or unreliability of University transportation options late at night, called for the route and hours of the shuttle service to be extended.

Nicholas Oo ’13, a Leverett House representative on the Undergraduate Council, suggested requesting the shutdown of Harvard Yard in an email sent to the UC list on Friday.

In an emailed statement to The Crimson, Oo wrote that he was primarily concerned by “how close in time the incidents occurred and how ready the police department will be in handling our security.”

Student leaders also called for changes in the frequency and tone of communications about rape at Harvard.

Abby P. Sun ’13, a former president of the Radcliffe Union of Students, said she would like to see HUPD follow up on its initial community advisory emails with messages to update students on the progress of its investigation into these and other reported crimes.

Morejon said she believes safety programs such as the escort service are currently stigmatized at Harvard, and would like to see them become more widely discussed and utilized.

“It needs to be fully normal and fully okay for me to say, ‘I'm scared and need someone to walk with me,’” Morejon said.

Morejon also said she hoped the University would increase efforts to publicize HUPD’s Rape Aggression Defense program, which offers self-defense courses for Harvard-affiliated women.

“It doesn’t matter how many resources you have—if people don’t know to use that resource, it’s useless,” Morejon said.

College administrators have not signaled whether they are planning to make any of these suggested changes.

In an email sent to the student body on Tuesday, Dean of the College Evelynn M. Hammonds wrote that she was “deeply troubled” by the incidents. She wrote that the University has increased the number of security guards on duty, and that she was asking house masters, resident deans, tutors, and proctors to emphasize personal safety precautions for students, but did not say whether any permanent security changes were being considered.

Sarah A. Rankin, director of the Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response, wrote in an emailed statement that she believed personal safety should always be part of the campus dialogue, but did not indicate whether she favored any changes to campus security policy.

Several students interviewed for this article said the recent rape reports have already caused them to make changes to their own personal safety plans.

While a number of students interviewed for this article said they already took care to walk in groups at night, incoming freshman Audrey B. Carson ’16 said she had not been overly concerned about her safety on campus until she received HUPD’s two community advisory emails.

“I thought Cambridge wasn't a dangerous area,” Carson said. “It was Harvard—it was supposed to be safe, academic.”

Carson said that now, when she arrives on campus, she will be careful to never walk alone at night.

—Staff writer Rebecca D. Robbins can be reached at rrobbins@college.harvard.edu.