Bomb Threat at Harvard Law School on Sunday Marks Seventh in 2 Months

Updated: Tuesday, January 23, at 11:13 p.m.

The Harvard University Police Department and Cambridge Police responded to a bomb threat at Harvard Law School on Sunday night, one of numerous bomb threats reported to HUPD over the past two months.

Police officers responded to the Law School’s Wasserstein Hall after receiving a report of a bomb threat at 5:28 pm on Sunday. According to HUPD spokesperson Steven G. Catalano, responding officers determined that the call was a hoax and there was “no credible threat.”

“As there was no credible threat no emergency notification was sent out,” Catalano wrote in an emailed statement.

The University has been the subject of seven bomb threats since December, three of which were targeted at the law school. In addition to the threat on Sunday, HUPD reported bomb threats on Dec. 20 and Dec. 24 at Langdell and Wasserstein Halls. The investigations into these incidents closed without an arrest.

Catalano wrote in an email that the department conducted an investigation into the Dec. 20 bomb threat, and “determined it was a hoax call”.

“It is unclear at this time if the incidents are connected in anyway,” he wrote.

Edward S. Chung, a second year at the Harvard Law School, witnessed the incident at Wasserstein Hall on Sunday during an evening meeting for a student organization. He described the situation as “confusing” and “scary.”

“There were a bunch of cops, security guards, but then there seemed to be more heavily armed guards — more like a SWAT team — with rifles and more advanced weaponry,” he said. “Nobody really was telling us what was going on.”

These incidents come almost a year after a “swatting” incident at Leverett House, where HUPD officers raided an undergraduate suite in response to a false 911 call. The perpetrator of the “swatting” attack – the act of placing a false emergency call with the intention of harassing a target by provoking a forceful police response — has not been identified.

HLS student Irene Ameena, who witnessed Sunday’s events, said that because of the incident at Leverett, she and other members of her organization felt scared when they first saw the police officers outside of their meeting.

“I think we all were just a little cautious and confused when there were just a bunch of cops outside the room and no explanation,” she said.

According to Ameena, one of the officers told her not to worry and that their presence was “just protocol.” The officer also told her the call came from a computer generated number.

Chung said the numerous bomb threats are “concerning” in light of the recent doxxing and harassment of Harvard students amid campus tension surrounding the Israel-Hamas war.

“It’s definitely concerning — especially with all the tension that's been on campus,” he said. “Knowing that there’s bomb threats or people threatening the campus, it definitely makes it a little bit more worrisome.”

Ameena believes students should have been notified of the bomb threat or of the police proceedings on campus.

“Police elicit a lot of different responses and different people for valid reasons, so I think it makes sense for students to be able to prepare for what they're gonna encounter in their learning environment,” she said.

Chung said he hopes for improved communication from administration regarding bomb threats in the future.

“Perhaps if I wasn’t on campus during that 30 minute period, I wouldn’t even know about any of this, " Chung said. “So it’d be nice to have better communication and honestly just know what the University is doing in response — except just calling SWAT teams — and trying to get to the bottom of why there’s so many threats.”

Harvard spokesperson Jonathan L. Swain declined to comment on criticisms of the University's response to the bomb threats.

Catalano wrote that in the event of a report of immediate threat to safety to members of the Harvard Community, HUPD will be dispatched to assess the credibility of a threat. Once confirmed that the threat is credible, an emergency notification is sent via the MessageMe system.

—Staff writer Sally E. Edwards can be reached at sally.edwards@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @sallyedwards04 or on Threads @sally_edwards06.

—Staff writer Asher J. Montgomery can be reached at asher.montgomery@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @asherjmont or on Threads @asher_montgomery.