Cornell Students Arrested In Sanders

For three Cornell undergraduates and one alumnus, a late-night tour of Sanders Theatre on Saturday night led to four arrests—and a scenic detour to Cambridge Police Department (CPD) detaining facilities.

Four men—Cornell undergraduates David R. Bean, 19; Matthew J. Sands, 21; Jonathan H. Gladback, 20 and alumnus Anand P. Puri, 23—were arraigned Tuesday on felony charges of breaking and entering after they entered Memorial Hall through an open door at 1:48 a.m. only hours after the Harvard-Cornell football game.

The charges were later reduced to the misdemeanor of trespassing and were ultimately dismissed, but the four will each have to foot $200 in court costs.

Bean, the youngest of the four, said they were in Cambridge for Cornell’s fall break and were going to Adams House to see friends when they decided to visit Memorial Hall, which is comprised of Sanders Theatre and Annenberg Hall.

“We talked to a janitor. We also saw people in there,” Bean said yesterday, speaking from his cell phone back in Ithaca. “And one of your fine Harvard students reported us to the police.”

Peggy A. McNamara, Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) spokeswoman, said the four men entered through an unlocked door and claimed at first to be prospective students being shown around campus.

But Bean denied lying to the police and said he had told HUPD that he was once a prospective student. He said the police misunderstood the entire situation.

“One police officer acted as if he didn’t know what he was doing,” Bean said. “The one cop had been working there for three months. I think he jumped the gun.”

There was no indication of weapons, tools or alcohol involved, according to McNamara.

According to Bean, he and his friends were already a block away from Memorial Hall when the police apprehended them. The suspects were then taken to CPD headquarters.

While Harvard was packed with throngs of Cornell students in for the Harvard-Cornell sporting match-ups earlier Saturday—of which Harvard won all five of the events, including football—Bean said yesterday that the expedition to Memorial Hall had nothing to do with his school’s losses.

“We didn’t even see the game,” Bean said. “The cops actually told us we lost.”

Bean said he and his friends do not expect to face disciplinary action from Cornell’s Judicial Administrator, the Cornell office charged with dealing with violations of Cornell’s Campus Code of Conduct.

Mary E. Grant, Cornell’s Judicial Administrator, could not be reached for comment yesterday.

The other three men would not respond to requests for comment yesterday.

Bean, for his part, said the only lapse in judgement came from the HUPD officer who apprehended him Saturday night.

“[He] said we were breaking and entering,” Bean said. “Maybe he’ll read his constitution.”

—Staff writer Robin M. Peguero can be reached at peguero@fas.harvard.edu