North House Committee President Gregory P. Lisi '92 said that although no formal response has been organized, Johnson's letter has been circulated around the house. Lisi said that many Quad residents take extra precautions when traveling at night, but he added that it is impossible to be ready for daytime assaults.
"Obviously she was a victim in the ultimate sense of the word," said Lisi. "There is no way one can prepare for a forced entry into a house."
The rape is the most recent in a series of publicized incidents of sexual assault at Harvard.
On a midweek afternoon in December 1988, a Harvard employee was raped in the Science Center. The rape sparked an outcry from women's groups and others on campus and prompted a number of demonstrations. At the time, administrators promised to tighten campus security.
In September 1989, a Boston man pleaded guilty to the Science Center attack and was sentenced to five-and-one-half to nine years in prison.
Joshua A. Gerstein and Madhavi Sunder contributed to the reporting of this story.