Campus Crime Meeting Postponed

A meeting scheduled for last night that would have brought together an unusual combination of administrators, student leaders and police officials for a discussion of community safety was postponed at the last minute.

"It was postponed because it was planned on too short notice and people who had really wanted to go to the meeting, who were really interested, couldn't make it," said Zayed M. Yasin '01, president of the Harvard Islamic Society and the meeting's chief organizer.

The guest list included members of the Cambridge Police Department, the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD), leaders of student groups and several College administrators.

The meeting was planned in response to the possible hate crime that occurred Sept. 19, when an Islamic student was attacked in Harvard Square as he returned home from prayer services.

A suspect, Benjamin Bargeil, was arrested Monday and is being charged with two counts of assault and battery and civil rights violations.

Yasin said he decided to postpone the gathering mainly because of concerns that student leaders would have to miss the meeting, which was only publicized Wednesday.

"I got a fair number of e-mails and people who came up to me who said that the meeting was very important to them, but with such short notice, it would be impossible for them to attend," he said.

Yasin was unable to publicize it sooner, he said, because he did not receive confirmation that HUPD officers would be attending until Wednesday morning.

He said he sent an e-mail announcement about the postponement over the same lists he'd used to publicize the event--those of HIS, the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations and the Women's Leadership Project.

Still, one student showed up at Ticknor Lounge yesterday evening.

Stephen N. Smith '02, a member of the Undergraduate Council, said he hadn't heard about the postponement.

He said he is still eagerly anticipating the meeting, which Yasin said will likely be rescheduled for next week or the following week.

"I want to go and hear students talking to administrators, asking what measures the administration is planning on taking," Smith said.

Smith added, "If any concrete proposals come out of the meeting I'd love to help in carrying them out."

Undergraduate Council President Fentrice D. Driskell '01 also planned to attend, but said she hopes the postponement will help to bolster attendance.

"I hope they will increase publicity efforts," she said. "The meeting has the potential to be a very powerful and important thing."