Harvard President Neil L. Rudenstine expresses confidence that the University is safe.
"I think the security we have is appropriate. I myself wouldn't feel we were unduly exposed. I'd be extremely surprised if we were [attacked]," he says.
Rudenstine says the fact that Harvard has such a high-profile and often attracts extremely influential politicians as speakers--such as PLO leader Yasir Arafat who visited here last fall, shortly after the assassination of Israeli President Yitzhak Rabin--the University has little to fear.
"If people really wanted to get at the leaders in government, there are places of much higher concentration," Rudenstine says.
Rudenstine does, however, acknowledge that government centers of comparable prominence generally have much higher security than Harvard.
While high-profile areas like government buildings and airports have restricted access since the recent rash of terrorist activity, the gates of Harvard Yard remain open, allowing the public to stream in and out.
And although experts say there is little precedent for a wholescale attack on a university, it certainly seems that Harvard fits the two criteria that make a terrorist attack more likely--a high profile and easy access.
"Maybe," Rudenstine shrugs.
"Maybe."
Bomb blasts around the world, from Saudi Arabia to Long Island to Atlanta, have rocked the nation. Citizens across the country are beginning to realize that terrorism is not a phenomenon limited to the rest of the world. Harvard University, in fact, might be an excellent target, with its high-profile and easy access. And the community is left to wonder...