Phone Company Monitors Lines

New England Telephone is monitoring the phones of selected Harvard students to determine the source of a recent rash of harassing phone calls, police officials said yesterday.

Several students reported receiving anti-Asian crank calls during the past few months. University police have transfered the investigation to the telephone company.

To date, no perpetrator has been discovered, but one Harvard student who has been receiving the calls since September said police told him the calls have been traced to a non-Harvard phone.

"They've traced it to an international line in Vienna, Austria," said Kenji P. Fujita '94, who has spoken with the police and the phone company several times.

New England Telephone officials could not be reached to confirm Fujita's statement.

According to several students, the caller has said "Die Korean bitch" and other racial slurs.

New England Telephone is keeping track of calls to several rooms in an attempt to catch the perpetrator, according to Harvard Police Chief Paul E. Johnson.

"We've put ourselves in the hands of the technologists," Johnson said. He said he believes the calls are being made by an automatic dialing device.

The Harvard Police are also still investigating a series of anti-Asian slurs written on the Lamont poetry board two weeks ago.

Johnson said the slurs were almost certainlywritten by someone connected to Harvard. "It's ina very awkward position for an outsider [toreach]," he said.

Johnson said an officer checks the board"several times a day" for new graffiti.

The Asian American Association (AAA), incooperation with the College Office of RaceRelations and Minority Affairs, is planning aforum on anti-Asian activity at Harvard andnationwide, said AAA co-president Constance I.Chang '93.

The forum would help students "to develop asense of awareness this is happening," said HildaHernandez-Gravelle, assistant dean for racerelations and minority affairs.

"We need to be thoughtful about the kind ofclimate these incidents create, especially for thecommunity that is the target," Hernandez-Gravellesaid

Johnson said the slurs were almost certainlywritten by someone connected to Harvard. "It's ina very awkward position for an outsider [toreach]," he said.

Johnson said an officer checks the board"several times a day" for new graffiti.

The Asian American Association (AAA), incooperation with the College Office of RaceRelations and Minority Affairs, is planning aforum on anti-Asian activity at Harvard andnationwide, said AAA co-president Constance I.Chang '93.

The forum would help students "to develop asense of awareness this is happening," said HildaHernandez-Gravelle, assistant dean for racerelations and minority affairs.

"We need to be thoughtful about the kind ofclimate these incidents create, especially for thecommunity that is the target," Hernandez-Gravellesaid