Faculty Member Robbed at Gunpoint

A male faculty member reported that he was robbed at gunpoint by an unknown man while walking north of the Divinity School at 10:15 p.m. on Saturday, according to a community advisory e-mailed by The Harvard University Police Department on Sunday evening.

The advisory states that the unidentified victim was near the intersection of Eustis and Oxford St. when a man allegedly approached him and asked him for the time.

The man then allegedly “displayed a handgun and demanded the faculty member’s wallet,” before taking it and fleeing down Oxford St., leaving the victim uninjured.

The Cambridge Police Department, rather than the HUPD, is investigating the incident because it did not occur on University property.

Street robberies increased by 23% to 74 incidents in Cambridge during the first six months of this year compared to the first half of 2008, according to the CPD’s second quarter crime report for 2009.

HUPD reiterated in the advisory that Harvard is an urban campus, which deals with many of the same crime and safety issues found in other cities. The notice urged students, faculty, and staff to exercise caution when walking at night by remaining in well-lit areas and refraining from listening to music, talking on cellphones, or walking unnecessarily close to strangers.

Yesterday’s advisory was the first since an announcement of an unarmed robbery on Putnam St. at the beginning of the school year.

Six robberies were reported in community advisories last school year, three of them armed, according to the HUPD online archive of advisories.

The Public Information Officers for both HUPD and CPD were not available for comment as of press time.

—Staff writer Sarah J. Howland can be reached at showland@fas.harvard.edu.