On October 10, Tierney was assaulted near Mather House on Flagg Street. Two weeks later, the Harvard Police Department issued a security alert revealing that in early September a student was raped at 10 a.m. while jogging alongside Memorial Drive. The police alert also referred to a second female student who reported that, while jogging along Memorial Drive, she returned to campus because she was followed by a stranger.

A few days later, James R. Russell, Mashtots professor of Armenian studies at the Kennedy School of Government, announced that he and an acquaintance had been the targets of an attempted assault near the river in September. In a letter to The Crimson dated November 1, Russell criticized the Harvard administration and the HUPD for downplaying safety concerns.

Students say the three assaults have made them more safety conscious.

"It's definitely changed the way I approach life in the Square," says Sheridan J. Pauker '96-'97.

In November, Pauker and several other undergraduate women concerned about the recent violence formed Harvard Alliance for Safety Training and Education (H.A.S.T.E.).

H.A.S.T.E. has sponsored several safety-awareness activities, including the recent Take Back the River Run and a Model Mugging seminar. The organization also secured funding from the Undergraduate Council to make the Rape Aggression Defense (RAD) System, a self-defense course, free to undergraduate women.

The course, which is administered by the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD), had previously cost participants $20.

Pauker says that it is important that H.A.S.T.E., as well as the administration and the police, provide safety information to students.

According to Pauker, students respond better to safety advice when it comes from their peers.

"If a police officer says 'Lock your door and don't go out alone at night,' it sounds like your mom," she says. "The message should also come from students."

Pauker says that H.A.S.T.E. is working with the police to develop a mini-RAD program, one which students can take in three hours.

Fifty-five incidents of violent crime were reported to the HUPD last year. The HUPD's list of crimes includes six robberies, 44 aggravated assaults and five sex offenses.

Theft in the Square

Non-violent crime in Cambridge decreased dramatically in 1994, and again in 1995, exceeding the nationwide downward trend in crime.

In Harvard Square, the most common crime was larceny. Thieves and shoplifters target shops and businesses in the Square, while pickpockets prey on shoppers and tourists.