Four Cases of Peer Harassment Prompt Div School Security Increase, orries

After four incidents of peer sexual harassment at the Divinity School this month, students and administrators are working this week to tighten security and increase student alertness.

Four cases of voyeuristic abuse on the campus have been reported in the past two weeks, said the school's Assistant Dean Roger H. Martin.

As a result of the incidents, the administration is trying to increase police patrols of the campus, Martin said. Also, a new guard has been assigned to the Divinity School's main building, Andover Hall, where two of the incidents occurred, he said.

The Dean of Students Office has sent out warning notices to each student's mailbox, said Jean Hadley, a staff assistant in the office. The leaflets described the first two attacks, which both occurred in Andover Hall at around 6:30 p.m., and told students to "exercise caution."

Div School degree candidate Cynthia M. Baker, said she was assaulted in a non-violent manner, but it was "definitely offensive." She said that she was standing in a doorway of Andover Hall when an unidentified man laid down on the ground, and without speaking, started to crawl under her skirt. Baker immediately began "yelling and brandishing an office coffeepot."

Another woman was accosted in an Andover Hall ladies' room on another day, said Baker. A man allegedly entered the bathroom and stuck his head under an occupied bathroom stall.

Pamela O. Chance, a Div School student, said that she was followed at 7:30 p.m. one night without incident by a man whom she felt was the same offender. "The guy seemed pretty harmless," she said adding, "it's creepy."

In the fourth case, a woman was followed down the length of Museum Street one night and then verbally abused with profanities, Baker said.

Harvard police records of at least three incidents were confirmed by the University police's Deputy Chief Jack W. Morse, though Morse said he did not know the dates of the cases.

Some Div School students are taking action in response to the rash of offenses. A group of about 12 students have put up warning posters and distributed additional leaflets about the incidents, said Baker "Awareness makes this place safer," she said.

About 40 people attended a meeting yesterday to discuss plans for a student-run escort service. Baker said that she plans to meet with the dean of students tomorrow to discuss further possible safety measures.