MIT Reports Missing Student

Daniel Barclay, a fifth-year student of political science and economics at MIT, has been missing for the past eleven days, the school announced yesterday.

Barclay, 22, was last heard from on the evening of April 8, when he spoke to his grandmother on the phone.

“Nobody has seen or heard from him since that time, and since then there’s been an ongoing missing person investigation,” said MIT Police Detective Bill J. Boulter.

Boulter said that federal and local authorities have been notified, as well as all Boston-area universities.

Barclay is a resident of Ashdown House, an on-campus dorm at MIT, but has no roommates, Boulter said.

A news post on the MIT Web site describes Barclay as five feet 11 inches tall, with fair skin, brown hair, and blue eyes. He weighs 135 pounds and wears eyeglasses.

Barclay was active on the MIT Parliamentary Debate Team. One MIT student who has debated with him said he is a powerful debater famous for his joke debate topics.

“His favorite joke was that ‘the U.S. should nuke the moon,’” said MIT freshman Adam J. Goldstein.

Goldstein said that members of the debate team are circulating posters seeking information about Barclay’s whereabouts, and that an e-mail from his mother had been sent out to all the dorms.

Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) is also on the lookout.

“The MIT Police Department shared with us the missing person flyer for Mr. Barclay,” HUPD spokesman Steven G. Catalano wrote in an e-mailed statement. “Our officers and detectives have been asked to keep an eye out for him.”

MIT spokesman Patti Richards said the school is doing its best to search for Barclay.

“We are following up on all leads,” Richards said. “We have contacted all the places where he debated across the country.”

The MIT Police are requesting that anyone with information about Barclay’s whereabouts call (617) 253-1212. Anonymous calls can be placed to (617) 258-TIPS(8477).

—Staff writer Rebecca M. Anders can be reached at rmanders@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Anna Tong can be reached at tong@fas.harvard.edu.