Assaults Occur Outside Final Clubs on Consecutive Weekends

During the last two consecutive weekends, assaults have occurred outside of final clubs involving physical confrontations between club members and individuals not affiliated with the University, prompting University officials to ask final club presidents to increase security.

Shortly after 3 a.m. on April 10, two undergraduate males reported to Cambridge police that they had been assaulted by a man on Mt. Auburn Street outside the Phoenix, one of two final clubs on that street.

After a member of the club denied the man entrance, the two men engaged in a verbal argument.

The student told the suspect he was not allowed to enter and either had to be a member or know someone inside. The suspect said that he was friends with one of the members of the Owl, according to another student at the party.

The assailant then pulled out a knife with a 5 or 6-inch blade and threatened him, he said.

The suspect also threatened the student with a gun, but he did not reveal it, the student said.

The students asked that their names not be used given the sensitivity of the situation.

“I was a little freaked out by the experience. I didn’t expect him to pull out a gun because he couldn’t get into the club,” said the student who had been threatened.

Another student was later punched in the face by the same suspect, according to the police report, and faced a laceration and contusion over his eye. That incident also took place outside of the Phoenix.

Cambridge Police Department Spokesman Dan M. Riviello said the incident is still under investigation.

So far, no suspects have been arrested.

The week before—around 2:30 a.m. on April 3—a fight occurred outside of the Owl that involved Harvard students and individuals not affiliated with the University.

That night, two men had attempted to enter the Owl but were denied, according to the police report.

The fight was sparked after one of the individuals who had tried to gain entrance to the club thought that he had been called a racial slur, according to the police report.

The police officer observed that at least three people were hit by the suspect, and one of the students had been knocked unconscious.

One student was punched in the head, suffered a laceration on his forehead, and was later taken to the hospital.

Two other students were punched and one suffered a welt under his eye, according to the police report.

The suspect fled and was later apprehended by Cambridge police after a foot chase.

The suspect assaulted the officer and has been charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, assault and battery on a police officer, and assault and battery.

An email sent by Dean of Student Life Suzy M. Nelson to all officers of final clubs and Greek organizations at Harvard, which was obtained by The Crimson, said that one of the suspect’s friends returned to the Owl that night.

Outside the Owl, he made his hand into the shape of a gun, and pretended to shoot the students inside the club.

The email informed the members to increase safety measures at club events and the area surrounding the clubs.

The presidents of the Phoenix and the Owl declined to comment.

—Staff writer Kerry M. Flynn can be reached at kflynn@college.harvard.edu.

This article has been revised to reflect the following clarification.

CLARIFICATION: APRIL 15, 2011

Due to an editing error, the headline of an earlier version of the April 15 article "Assaults Occur Outside Final Clubs on Consecutive Weekends" included a headline that misportrayed assaults that occurred at final clubs.