Security Tightest Ever for Celebration As Police Worry About Large Crowds

With a dozen law enforcement agencies converging on Cambridge this week, security precautions for the 350th anniversary celebration will be greater than for any other Harvard event to date.

"If you take the security coverage at Commencement, and multiply it four times, you are getting an idea of what we are doing," said Harvard University Police Chief Paul E. Johnson, who is overseeing the coordination of security at all the celebration events.

Police locked all but one gate leading into Harvard Yard at 2 a.m. today and closed off Tercentenary Theater and several buildings in the Yard to allow trained dogs to search the area for "devices and explosives," said Harvard Deputy Chief of Police Jack W. Morse.

To meet the needs created by crowds, protests and visiting dignitaries, all of the department's 70 police officers are working overtime, with help from local and state police.

"Security represents a major portion of our budget for the 350th," said Thomas W. Stephenson '37, general secretary of the 350th celebration. He declined to give a specific figure.

Johnson said Harvard Police have also been in close cooperation with the FBI, Treasury Department Security, the Department of Alcohol, Firearms, and Tobacco, and state and local police. "It's just as complicated as the World Series," said Morse.

Following plans first laid over a year ago, hundreds of Cambridge, Harvard, Metropolitan District Commission (MDC), Boston and state police will be present throughout the celebrations, Stephenson said.

State, MDC, and Cambridge police will supervise traffic control, while Harvard police and federal agencies will watch over the 350th events themselves.

This additional manpower is required to handle the estimated 50,000 spectators expected this week. The visiting throngs remain the greatest security concern.

"Trying to get 18,000 to 19,000 people into the Yard at the same time, in addition to crowd dispersal after the stadium show, traffic, and lines, will be our biggest problems," said Johnson.

Police have erected a fence around TercentenaryTheater and will conduct baggage searches andcheck tickets at the entrances to the theaterbefore the convocations and concerts, Johnsonsaid.

Sever Hall will be closed to the public fromnoon Wednesday to noon Sunday. The rest of thebuildings surrounding the theater will be closedtoday and tomorrow from 2 a.m. to noon, with theexception of Widener Library, which will open at 3p.m. today and noon tomorrow.

Proctors living in Weld and Thayer have beenmoved to Massachusetts Hall until the celebrationis over, and police have ordered Thayer-basedHarvard Student Agencies to close during theconvocations.

Construction workers in the Yard said they wereinstructed to build special platforms in SeverHall to enable security officers to view theproceedings from Sever's high windows.

Traffic will be rerouted around Kirkland St.before today's address by Charles, Prince ofWales, and Mass. Ave. may be closed off tovehicles depending on traffic conditions duringthe day, Morse said.

Citing security concerns, officials refused toelaborate on more specific measures being takenthis week.

Security Blanket

To prepare for the three-day visit byFoundation Day speaker Prince Charles, plannersenlisted the advice of Scotland Yard and themanpower of the State Department's DiplomaticSecurity Service, said John F. Ford, head of theservice's Boston office. The law enforcementagency will also safeguard Secretary of StateGeorge P. Shultz, who will be leaving shortlyafter delivering his convocation address tomorrow.

The presence of the Prince of Wales in theBoston area, which has a high Irish-Americanpopulation and is thought to be a major source offunding for the Irish Republican Army, brings upthe possibility of terrorist attacks, according toFord.

"Although we haven't received any intelligencereports yet of possible overt terrorist acts, wealways have to keep it in the back of our minds,"said Johnson.

"We are going to have officers crawling allover Harvard, Boston, and the airports," Fordsaid. Additional reinforcements are being calledup from the service's larger New York City office,he said.

"You have got to put together a package whereyou hope you can get your man in and out of therewithout any problems," the agent said.

However, Ford said he doesn't forsee anytrouble with Shultz's visit. "He's pretty easy, inand out in one day," said Ford.

Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger '38will be traveling with his own security detail,Ford said.

The visit of Saudi Arabian oil minister AhmedZaki Yamani will not fall under the jurisdictionof either State Department security or the SecretService, both agencies said. The Law Schoolalumnus, considered one of the most influentialactors in the international petroleum industry,will be accompanied by his family and a personalguard detail, said Ford.

Yamani will speak on the future of the oilindustry today at an Energy and EnvironmentalPolicy Center-sponsored event, one of a series ofKennedy School of Government festivities slated tocoincide with the 350th celebration. Directors atthe center refused to comment on Yamani's scheduleor security arrangements.

Birthday planners also orginally called on theSecret Service in anticipation of a possibleappearance by President Reagan. If the Presidenthad attended, security would have been eventighter. Spectators would have had to enter theYard through metal detectors like those found inairports, said Francis H. Burr '35, chairman ofthe 350th Anniversary Celebration Commission.

However, the Secret Service will travel withJamaican Prime Minister Edward P.G. Seaga '52.

Ready for Anything

To complicate matters, the 350th Coalition forDivestiture, composed of the Harvard SouthernAfrican Solidarity Committee and Cambridgeactivist groups, has declared in press conferencesand leaflets that it will demonstrate outsideShultz's convocation address. Spokesmen for thecoalition have said these demonstrations would benon-violent.

The anti-apartheid activists assured policethat the protests would be "orderly and peaceful,"according to Johnson. "In this case we will followour orders and allow them to express themselvespeacefully.

"However, if it becomes a security problem, wewill have to take action," said Johnson. "We arenot looking for disruptive incidents, but we areprepared for them."

Says Ford, "We have planned and planned, butyou've got to stay alert--that's the name of thegame.