More than a dozen Harvard Police officers responded when approximately 400 people tried to attend a rap concert at Adams House last night, resulting in the closing of parts of Plympton St. and the threats of arrest.

Police limited the number of people who could enter the house dining hall, where the concert was held, to approximately 200, saying the room had been filled to capacity.

The concert, which was scheduled to begin at 10:30 p.m., featured four disc jockeys and five rap groups. It was organized by Adams House residents Keith A. Levy '95 and Richard K. Pengelly '95, according to Loker Professor of English Robert J. Kiely, the Adams House master.

Some of those present said the unusually large police presence may have been triggered by racial tensions between police and the predominantly Black crowd.

An argument between several Black men and a police officer broke out in front of the Bow St. entrance to the Adams House dining hall. "This is why you don't let niggers into you bitch school," one of the men yelled into the street, after being denied access to the hall.

But Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III said he did not think the heavy police intervention was related to race.

"I'm sure that the police did what was necessary," Epps said in an interview last night, referring to the closing of Plympton St. between Mass. Ave. and Bow St. "I don't think that race had anything to do with it."

The main entrance to Adams House was blocked by 11:30 p.m., as six police cars crowded onto Plympton St. and as more than 15 officers entered the house.

Police had begun arriving outside the main entrance to Adams House around 9:30 p.m. Transmissions on the police radio indicated that officers believed minors were drinking on the Plympton St. sidewalk.

A group of approximately 20 young men was seen drinking beer on Mt. Auburn St. outside Clavery Hall. Three patrol cars pulled up, but the men walked past them and down one block to the main entryway of Adams House.

A crowd of more than 250 students converged in the lobby in front of the dining hall, where tickets were sold. No tickets had been sold in advance, and those wishing to attend the concert were asked first to buy tickets and then to line up to be frisked.

Three security guards from a private security firm searched students' bodies, hats and pockets, as two Harvard Police officers looked on.

Ticket-holders and those waiting to buy tickets were delayed for more than 45 minutes, as additional people packedinto the house lobby.

Concert-goers waiting to buy tickets expresseddissatisfaction with the organization of theevent. "I'm about to pass out," one man yelledinto the crowd, as the concertgoers were packedelbow-to-elbow.

Although guards admitted that friskings delayedentrance, they said they were necessary forsecurity. "You pay, you get searched," one of theprivate guards said.

By 11 p.m. police and security guards allowedconcert-goers to file into the room. But theconcert's organizer's stopped selling ticketsafter about 200 were sold, disappointing around200 of those who had waited.