A day after evacuation due to bomb scare, Harvard reopens two buildings
19 Dec 2013 4:20 AM IST
The Ivy League school said on its online alert system it reopened Thayer and Emerson halls to students, while local, state and federal law enforcement officials continued their search of Sever Hall and the Science Center.
No explosions were reported and neither Harvard officials nor law enforcement reported finding explosive devices.
‘The report remains unconfirmed and the HUPD (Harvard University Police Department) has no reason to believe there is a threat to any other site on campus,’ Harvard said on its Web site.
Institutions across the Boston area have been on an elevated state of alert since the April 15 bombing attack at the Boston Marathon that killed three people and injured 264.
The Harvard campus police, Cambridge Police and Massachusetts State Police, including the bomb squad, responded to the campus, where they set up yellow-taped perimeters around the evacuated buildings and directed students to move away.
University officials closed Harvard Yard - the wooded and currently snow-covered historic center of the campus - to outside pedestrians, allowing only people who held Harvard identification to enter.
People could be seen walking calmly outside the campus. The school, founded in 1636, has about 21,000 students. Police did not immediately return calls seeking further details.
Harvard’s campus is located in a densely populated urban area adjoining Boston. Students this week were scheduled to take final exams. Daniel Banks, an 18-year-old freshman from Marlboro, New Jersey, was about to take a final exam in a government class when he was evacuated from Emerson Hall.
‘It was my first final ever at Harvard and within a minute it was canceled,’ Banks said. ‘I never expected anything like this to ever happen at Harvard especially, but I’m glad that nothing real has happened yet.’ It was the latest in a series of security scares at U.S. schools and universities. Three days ago a Colorado high school student intent on confronting a teacher opened fire at his school, severely wounding a classmate before killing himself.
No explosions were reported and neither Harvard officials nor law enforcement reported finding explosive devices.
‘The report remains unconfirmed and the HUPD (Harvard University Police Department) has no reason to believe there is a threat to any other site on campus,’ Harvard said on its Web site.
Institutions across the Boston area have been on an elevated state of alert since the April 15 bombing attack at the Boston Marathon that killed three people and injured 264.
The Harvard campus police, Cambridge Police and Massachusetts State Police, including the bomb squad, responded to the campus, where they set up yellow-taped perimeters around the evacuated buildings and directed students to move away.
University officials closed Harvard Yard - the wooded and currently snow-covered historic center of the campus - to outside pedestrians, allowing only people who held Harvard identification to enter.
People could be seen walking calmly outside the campus. The school, founded in 1636, has about 21,000 students. Police did not immediately return calls seeking further details.
Harvard’s campus is located in a densely populated urban area adjoining Boston. Students this week were scheduled to take final exams. Daniel Banks, an 18-year-old freshman from Marlboro, New Jersey, was about to take a final exam in a government class when he was evacuated from Emerson Hall.
‘It was my first final ever at Harvard and within a minute it was canceled,’ Banks said. ‘I never expected anything like this to ever happen at Harvard especially, but I’m glad that nothing real has happened yet.’ It was the latest in a series of security scares at U.S. schools and universities. Three days ago a Colorado high school student intent on confronting a teacher opened fire at his school, severely wounding a classmate before killing himself.
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