Willa H. Friedman ’05, who responded to Poage’s e-mail, said she thinks students have to be careful about the way they interpret the arrest.

“To publicize a newfound fear of custodians because of what one did wrong is inappropriate,” Friedman wrote in an e-mail to Mather-open. “We should respect them as individuals and be especially careful not to generalize about an entire professional group because of a single incident.”

Horowitz, of the Middlesex County District Attorney’s office, said that Ramos is currently being held for a “dangerousness hearing” to decide whether he can be released on bail.

Ramos will remain in the Middlesex County jail until next week’s hearing, Horowitz said.

This incident is not the first time an outsourced employee has been charged with assault of a Harvard student.

Jesse S. Downs ’00-’01 filed a report with Middlesex County in April 2000 accusing Errol Allen, then a guard for Security Systems Inc. (SSI), of assaulting her in the 20 DeWolfe St. laundry room.

Allen was found not guilty in September 2000.

In a letter sent to students on Jan. 14 by Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross ’71 in response to rising safety concerns, he wrote the College is planning to start a new safety escort service.

According to Catalano, the new service is “still being fleshed out.”

“We’re hoping to have it up and running by the start of spring semester,” he said.

—Hera A. Abbasi and Jenifer L. Steinhardt contributed to the reporting of this story.

—Staff writer Hana R. Alberts can be reached at alberts@fas.harvard.edu.