Ethnic, Religious Groups Take Security Precautions

The fear that has swept the country in the aftermath of last week’s terrorist attacks has infiltrated several Harvard ethnic and religious groups.

The boards of Hillel, the Harvard Islamic Society (HIS) and the South Asian Association (SAA) have met in the past week to discuss their members’ safety in light of the recent events.

During Rosh Hashana this week, Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) Officers are standing by at the Business School, Hillel and Memorial Church, where services are being held to celebrate the new year.

Students are asked to show their ID cards, but worshippers will not be kept out if they do not have ID, according to Hillel Chair Benjamin Z. Galper ’02.

Since last Wednesday, Hillel has hired HUPD officers to guard the building 24 hours a day.

Galper characterized this added security as precautionary.

Hillel’s board will meet later this week to decide whether to maintain the extra police presence.

“There’s no reason to think there’s any threat,” Galper said. “We thought we would just take some security measures to make people feel more safe.”

HIS has also asked that an officer watch Canaday basement, where Muslims gather five times a day for prayers, and has advised Muslim students not to walk alone at night.

The co-presidents of Harvard’s SAA, Shaline D. Rao ’03 and Sandeep C. Kulkarni ’04, said none of their members have reported safety concerns on campus.

But security issues were at least part of the reason the SAA did not organize a large rally soon after the attacks, Kulkarni said. He said they will consider added security precautions next month, when the group will hold a dinner and present a South Asian cultural celebration.

Kulkarni added that the group is drafting a list of suggested security measures for South Asians, such as walking in groups and even not wearing ethnic dress.

“I’d be lying to you if I said I walk around and feel perfectly safe here,” Kulkarni said. “People don’t want to walk by themselves. There’s a feeling that something could happen.”

Not wearing traditional costume “might be excessive,” he added. “But right now no one would. It’s better to take whatever precautions are possible.”

The group’s concerns are heightened by national events. On Saturday, an Indian man was killed in Arizona in a suspected act of racial violence in retaliation for the attacks.

Yet, Rao said she and her classmates feel safe at Harvard and are more concerned about the safety of South Asians elsewhere.

“I’d like to believe people on campus know who we are, and we’re the same people we were before the attacks,” Rao said.

Rao and Kulkarni said that some South Asians, worried that their similar appearance might lead some of them to be mistaken for Muslims, have made a point of saying they are not Muslims—hoping that will protect them from retaliation. But the SAA plans to hold a joint panel discussion with HIS, emphsizing safety fears common to Muslims and non-Muslims.

The SAA also allied itself with the Harvard Initiative for Peace and Justice rally on Thursday and a discussion on safety for South Asians at MIT tonight.

—Staff writer Andrew S. Holbrook can br reached at holbr@fas.harvard.edu.