Harvard Takes Precautions in Mailrooms

As fears of bioterrorism and anthrax infection continued to spread throughout the nation yesterday, University officials met with mailroom employees to ensure security measures.

Two suspicious packages at Harvard—and hundreds more around the country—kept police, fire and hazardous materials (HAZMAT) crews on their toes.

In the most serious incident, a piece of mail sent to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) tested positive for anthrax and forced a halt to all mail delivery in the Capitol building complex.

The incident in Daschle’s office came on the heels of Friday’s news: a case of anthrax contracted by an assistant to NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw and a suspicious letter sent to a New York Times bioterrorism reporter.

The anthrax scares threatened to disrupt postal operations nationwide, as post offices from Maine to Florida have been closed temporarily by anthrax scares in recent days.

The national threats have also caused a heightened awareness throughout the Boston area.

South Station was evacuated on Saturday for an hour after an official spotted a pile of white powder near an Amtrak ticket counter. Fire and police officials in HAZMAT suits determined the powder to be laundry detergent.

And two suspicious packages yesterday at Harvard Law School and the Kennedy School of Government prompted police and fire officials to investigate. Since Sept. 11, suspicious package calls have increased significantly, said Harvard University Police Deparment spokesperson Peggy A. McNamara, but no legitimate threats have yet been realized.

Harvard Responds

University administrators met yesterday to determine an appropriate response to the recent scares.

The University’s procedures for handling mail and suspicious packages were tightened in the early 1990s at the height of the Unabomber scare—and procedures and staff awareness have remained in place since, said Thomas E. Vautin, associate vice president of facilities and operations.

Now the University is working to ensure that its information is up-to-date and that all personnel who handle mail are properly educated in spotting suspicious packages and potential threats.

The University is following U.S. Postal Service guidelines, which state that people should be wary of stained or bulky packages, packages with restrictive endorsements like “to be opened by addressee only” and packages with vague address information.

However, securing Harvard’s mail poses logistical problems for the University, which uses a decentralized system to distribute mail to the more than 50 mailrooms on campus. While all mail to the University comes directly from the Central Square Post Office, not all of it is sorted at a single location. Some mail, like that sent to the undergraduate Houses, is mailed directly to its final destination by the Postal Service. Other mail, however, is picked up by Harvard University Mail Services (HUMS) and distributed to the various mailrooms on campus.

HUMS has taken some measures to ensure its employees’ safety in treating the mail.

“We have made rubber gloves available to our employees in the central mail sorting facility strictly as a precautionary measure,” Vautin said. “Some have opted to wear them.”

Unlike many mailrooms in New York City that have stopped accepting U.S. mail deliveries, the University is still receiving all mail and has no plans to restrict incoming packages at this point.

As the current situation developsnd more information becomes available about the anthrax threats, HUMS might reevaluate its policies, Vautin said.

Additionally, staffers of high-profile professors said they were watchful for suspicious mail, but in general they were comfortable with the precautions already being taken.

“It’s just business as usual here,” said an assistant to Frankfurter Professor of Law Alan M. Dershowitz yesterday.

“Right now, human vigilance is the watchword,” Vautin said.

University Health Services

In an attempt to calm fears about anthrax, University Health Services (UHS) published a letter from Director Dr. David S. Rosenthal ’59 on its website Sunday, explaining the University’s preparations. Rosenthal noted that “anthrax is not easily contracted and is not spread contagiously among humans,” but that UHS was prepared for anything.

“UHS maintains an appropriate stock of Cipro and other antibiotics used in the treatment of anthrax infection. We also cooperate with area hospital pharmacies to share drugs and vaccines, as needed,” he wrote.

However, Rosenthal and Presley Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics R. John Collier, who studies anthrax, cautioned that taking antibiotics without cause could also pose significant health risks.

“Unless there’s clear evidence you were exposed to anthrax, it doesn’t make sense to take antibiotics,” Collier said. “It’s best just to remain calm and vigilant.”

—Material from the Associated Press was used in the compilation of this article.

—Staff writer Garrett M. Graff can be reached at ggraff@fas.harvard.edu.