City: Harvard Must Defend Procedures In Stalking Case

Charging that Harvard "may have obstructed a criminal investigation," the Cambridge City Council passed an ordinance Monday night requiring University administrators to attend a meeting with top city and police officials to discuss their conduct during a stalking incident this summer.

The council voted 9-0 to require the University administration to confer with City Manager Robert W. Healy and four top level Cambridge police officials over proper procedures in future stalking and domestic violence incidents.

The Crimson reported last month that University administrators repeatedly failed to cooperate with a police search for a male 17-year-old summer school student who had threatened to kill a female summer school student.

The boy, whose identity is being kept secret by police because of his age, was later arrested and arraigned on stalking and threatening charges.

The ordinance, authored by Councillor Michael A. Sullivan, was passed without debate or discussion by the nine-member council.

"The purpose of the order is to assist Harvard in the most productive manner possible to know about stalking laws and domestic violence," Sullivan said yesterday.

The order, which was included in a larger consent-order package, also requested that City Manager Robert W. Healy prepare a training program on domestic violence which administrators from all colleges and high schools in Cambridge will be required to attend.

Sullivan said he decided to write the ordinance after reading an October 5 article by Boston Globe columnist Bella English. She commented on the findings of a September 12 story in The Crimson.

In a statement issued last night, the University defended its actions in the stalking case.

"Harvard administrators acted appropriately and responsively by referring the incident to the police," Joe Wrinn, acting director of the Harvard office of news and public affairs, said in the statement.

While Wrinn said the University will comply with the ordinance, he declined to say which administration representatives will be sent to the meeting, or what topics Harvard might like to discuss.

"We have not heard from the city council yet," Wrinn said in an interview last night. "I would not want to speculate on what they might have in mind."

But Sullivan remained critical of Harvard's treatment of the incident.

"It appears from the story that an administrator was doing everything to prevent the police from doing their job," Sullivan said. "They weren't going to tell University police where the student was, which was providing problems for the security of the victim."

"I was concerned by the actions of as administrator whether there is a campus policy on not doing anything about it," he said.

Lowell House Master William H. Bossert, the ranking University official at the time of the incident, was one of the administrators who kept the victim's location from the police. He refused to comment on the case yesterday.

The ordinance passed Monday instructs Healy and four top-ranking police brass--Police Commissioner Perry L. Anderson Jr. Superintendent Walter L. Boyle and the department's two domestic-violence liaisons--to meet with University administrators "to insure that a similar situation does not occur again."

Several Harvard officials declined to comment on Sullivan's ordinance or the incident yesterday.

"This is a criminal case still pending," said Elizabeth C. Hewitt, director of the secondary school students' summer program. "We're not allowed to talk about it."

Both Margaret H. Marshall, general counsel to the University, and Allan A. Ryan Jr., the University attorney assigned to the stalking case, did not return telephone calls yesterday.

James H. Rowe '73, vice president for government, community and public affairs, was in Washington, D.C. yesterday but instructed the news office to draft last night's statement, an administrative assistant in the office said.

Harvard "has a very strong and exemplary record in matters of campus safety and protection against harassment," Wrinn said in the statement.

"We have always acted firmly and fairly to assure a safe campus," he added, "and continue to consider the safety of our students to be our highest priority."

Sarah E. Gallop, assistant for government relations at MIT, said MIT would welcome a discussion with Healy.

Police officers said yesterday that they had not heard of the ordinance. When told of its contents, however, they gave varying interpretations of the format that the Harvard-city discussion will take.

"We can advise them what should happen if there's a question of a stalking case or a potential stalking case," said Boyle, a 27-year veteran of the Cambridge police.

Cambridge police spokesperson Det. Frank T. Pasquarello said the department might provide Harvard officials with a police instructor familiar with proper procedure.

"The administrators of the colleges should know the laws, but if they request additional training, then we will offer any assistance we can," Pasquarello said.

"It's basically about educating Harvard," Sullivan said. "That's kind of a mixed term, isn't it?

While Wrinn said the University will comply with the ordinance, he declined to say which administration representatives will be sent to the meeting, or what topics Harvard might like to discuss.

"We have not heard from the city council yet," Wrinn said in an interview last night. "I would not want to speculate on what they might have in mind."

But Sullivan remained critical of Harvard's treatment of the incident.

"It appears from the story that an administrator was doing everything to prevent the police from doing their job," Sullivan said. "They weren't going to tell University police where the student was, which was providing problems for the security of the victim."

"I was concerned by the actions of as administrator whether there is a campus policy on not doing anything about it," he said.

Lowell House Master William H. Bossert, the ranking University official at the time of the incident, was one of the administrators who kept the victim's location from the police. He refused to comment on the case yesterday.

The ordinance passed Monday instructs Healy and four top-ranking police brass--Police Commissioner Perry L. Anderson Jr. Superintendent Walter L. Boyle and the department's two domestic-violence liaisons--to meet with University administrators "to insure that a similar situation does not occur again."

Several Harvard officials declined to comment on Sullivan's ordinance or the incident yesterday.

"This is a criminal case still pending," said Elizabeth C. Hewitt, director of the secondary school students' summer program. "We're not allowed to talk about it."

Both Margaret H. Marshall, general counsel to the University, and Allan A. Ryan Jr., the University attorney assigned to the stalking case, did not return telephone calls yesterday.

James H. Rowe '73, vice president for government, community and public affairs, was in Washington, D.C. yesterday but instructed the news office to draft last night's statement, an administrative assistant in the office said.

Harvard "has a very strong and exemplary record in matters of campus safety and protection against harassment," Wrinn said in the statement.

"We have always acted firmly and fairly to assure a safe campus," he added, "and continue to consider the safety of our students to be our highest priority."

Sarah E. Gallop, assistant for government relations at MIT, said MIT would welcome a discussion with Healy.

Police officers said yesterday that they had not heard of the ordinance. When told of its contents, however, they gave varying interpretations of the format that the Harvard-city discussion will take.

"We can advise them what should happen if there's a question of a stalking case or a potential stalking case," said Boyle, a 27-year veteran of the Cambridge police.

Cambridge police spokesperson Det. Frank T. Pasquarello said the department might provide Harvard officials with a police instructor familiar with proper procedure.

"The administrators of the colleges should know the laws, but if they request additional training, then we will offer any assistance we can," Pasquarello said.

"It's basically about educating Harvard," Sullivan said. "That's kind of a mixed term, isn't it?