While most students were at home celebrating the holidays, the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) learned of a bomb threat at the Harvard Medical School.
The December 21 threat prompted the Boston Police Department to search the building, located next to Children's Hospital on Longwood Avenue in Boston.
The bomb threat was declared unfounded, according to the HUPD police log.
The building is also adjacent to Brigham and Womens Hospital and across the street from Beth Israel Hospital in Boston's crowded medical area.
Aside from the bomb threat, however, the police log shows that the HUPD spent winter break quietly keeping the peace in the Square. As students were leaving town on the morning ofDec. 18, a parent searching for a missingfirst-year contacted the police. HUPD responded toWigglesworth Hall and located the student, who wasfine. A suspicious person was reportedly spotted atthe Loeb Drama Center on the night of the 19th.HUPD searched the premises, and reported "negativeresults." Harvard Square's purse-snatchers apparentlyskipped their holiday break, according to the log.A purse was reported stolen from Au Bon Pain at2:30 p.m. on the 20th. A car flipped over while traveling on MemorialDrive at 12:55 p.m. on December 23rd, apparentlyafter hitting a second vehicle. HUPD reports thatboth drivers "appeared to be okay." On Christmas Day, HUPD responded to a report ofa mysterious person in the Leverett Towers at 9:48p.m. Working on a hunch that it wasn't SantaClaus, HUPD investigated and reports that theperson was gone when they arrived. Police continued to investigate "suspiciouspersons" reported on campus throughout the break.On the evening of the Dec. 29, police were toldthat a suspicious person was reported in MemorialChurch. The police log reads that "a check of thearea proved negative." New Year's celebrations yielded only one reportof a loud party, which was called in at 3 a.m. inthe morning of the first. Police responded to 20DeWolfe St. and quieted the festivities. As students settled back in on Monday morning,the routine oddness of Harvard life appeared to bereturning to Cambridge. An especially mysterious person was reportedlyspotted near the Loeb Drama Center at 10:18 a.m. "Units responded to a third-party report of anaked person in the area [of 76 Brattle Street],"reads the police log. "A check of the area came upwith nothing showing.
Read more in News
The Dangers of a "Liberal Tendency"