A meeting scheduled for last night that would have brought together an unusual combination of administrators, student leaders and police officials for a discussion of community safety was postponed at the last minute.

"It was postponed because it was planned on too short notice and people who had really wanted to go to the meeting, who were really interested, couldn't make it," said Zayed M. Yasin '01, president of the Harvard Islamic Society and the meeting's chief organizer.

The guest list included members of the Cambridge Police Department, the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD), leaders of student groups and several College administrators.

The meeting was planned in response to the possible hate crime that occurred Sept. 19, when an Islamic student was attacked in Harvard Square as he returned home from prayer services.

A suspect, Benjamin Bargeil, was arrested Monday and is being charged with two counts of assault and battery and civil rights violations.

Yasin said he decided to postpone the gathering mainly because of concerns that student leaders would have to miss the meeting, which was only publicized Wednesday.

"I got a fair number of e-mails and people who came up to me who said that the meeting was very important to them, but with such short notice, it would be impossible for them to attend," he said.

Yasin was unable to publicize it sooner, he said, because he did not receive confirmation that HUPD officers would be attending until Wednesday morning.