Senior Assaulted in Possible Hate Crime Incident

A Harvard undergraduate was assaulted by two men police described as skinheads Tuesday night, in what police are labeling a possible hate crime.

The incident, which occurred on the sidewalk of St. Paul's Church on Arrow Street, is the second Square attack in less than 72 hours that police said may have been motivated by bias.

Speaking through Zayed M. Yasin '02, the President of the Harvard Islamic Society (HIS), the victim of Tuesday's assault, a Dunster House senior, declined public comment and asked that his name not be printed.

But Yasin provided a narrative of events as related to him by the victim.

Around 8:30 p.m., while walking back to Dunster House from the Islamic prayer room in Canaday Hall, the student said he was grabbed from behind by two men, who began punching him.

The assailants, described to police as skinheads, knocked the undergraduate to the ground, where he hit his head. The suspects continued to kick him.

At the time of the assault, the student was wearing an Islamic prayer cap.

Minutes later, the undergraduate was found by another student, who called 911. Police brought him to the Cambridge City Hospital, where doctors stitched a laceration to his head.

The suspects in the assault were both described as white males, 17 to 23 years of age, around 6 feet tall and 160 pounds, with shaved heads.

Tuesday's attack is the Square's second this week involving attackers described as skinheads, police said.

On September 17, a Cambridge resident told police that around 2 a.m., he and some friends were confronted outside 1374 Mass. Ave. by 10 to 12 men a police advisory calls skinheads.

One member of the group threw a metal trashcan at the individual, hitting him in the head. Others shouted homophobic slurs.

The victim was treated and released.

The group involved in the assault is believed to hang around the pit outside the Harvard Square T stop.

Police have not said whether the two assaults were connected.

Frank D. Pasquarello, Cambridge Police Department (CPD) spokesperson, was out of the city yesterday and said he would not provide any information about the assault. A watch commander declined to comment last night.

When an incident is investigated as a hate crime, the victim is often entitled to a greater degree of privacy, so full details are not normally available. Still, police agencies will usually list the matter as being part of a "confidential report" on their public log. But when checked last night, no mention of Tuesday's incident appears in the CPD's police log.

The Harvard student who reported Tuesday's assault spent yesterday with his friends, including several members of HIS.

"Our first priority is taking care of his needs," Yasin said. "This kind of incident can be very isolating."

Yasin sent an e-mail message to HIS members last night, warning students to be aware of their surroundings.

But Yasin said there is no reason to stop wearing Islamic garb in public.

"We're not going to cave in and allow the threats and violence of other people to affect how we express our identity," he said.

Dunster House Senior Tutor John T. O'Keefe sent an e-mail message to Dunster residents late last night alerting residents to the attack.

"None of us is ever completely safe from this kind of crime, but we should all take whatever precautions we can to keep ourselves safe," he wrote.

O'Keefe also called on House residents to support the victim in the wake of the assault.

Also yesterday, the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) issued a community advisory to students, cautioning that they be especially alert when in the Square and near an empty lot at Mass Ave. and Arrow Street.

While refusing to discuss patrol patterns, HUPD and CPD officials said that they are aware that skinheads were suspected in the recent attacks.

"Officers in the area are certainly aware of them," HUPD Captain Jack Stanton said yesterday.

Scott Nickerson, who was talking with friends in the pit outside the Harvard Square T stop last night, said he was in the pit on Tuesday night when police came by seeking information about Tuesday's assault. Nickerson said police searched several young men with shaved heads who were in the area at the time.

Anyone with information about either of the incidents is asked to contact CPD detective Steve Lyons at (617) 349-3368.