Three Students Are Suspected Of Tutor Assault

Three male students allegedly assaulted two women and a Harvard tutor in front of 74 Mt. Auburn Street at about 9:50 p.m. last night, according to the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD).

The police made no arrests last night but searched a Quincy House entryway. Officers said they were looking for members of the Fox Club, but the suspects remained unidentified at press time.

Steven A. Gross, a tutor in Mather House, said he was walking behind the students, who were dressed in tuxedos, when he saw them push two women, walking in the opposite direction, off the sidewalk.

Gross said that as he passed them he said, "Hey guys, that's really not necessary."

"At which point one of them pushed me off the sidewalk," Gross said. One of the students started to lunge at Gross, but another held him back. The students also verbally threatened him, Gross said.

Gross then asked them if they were Harvard students. The man who had pushed him screamed that he was from MIT. One of the others said he himself was a Harvard student, according to Gross.

The three students continued walking down Mt. Auburn Street, and Gross called the HUPD. from the centrex phone outside of the main door to Lowell House.

"The police were really good about sending a lot of people down at once," Gross said.

The police had seen three men in tuxedos entering the Quincy House courtyard and followed them there with Gross.

Three police officers on motorcycles circled around the courtyard and asked students present whether they had seen men wearing tuxedos, said Sgt. Jim McCarthy.

A large group of students present in the courtyard were filming a movie at the time. They said they did not see any men in tuxedos.

Bryan W. Leach '00 said the police asked him in the courtyard if he knew of any students in the Fox Club living in Old Quincy.

Leach told the police of one Quincy resident being initiated into the Fox. The police then knocked on doors in one entryway and asked residents if they had seen men wearing tuxedos.

According to Gross, the police took his name and information to file a report.

"They asked me if I wanted to press charges, and I said if they are Harvard students I would see to it that it was handled within Harvard," Gross said.

The Fox Club declined to comment when reached late last night.