A Cautious Approach

Now, five months after Abouazza’s arrest and the last-minute decision to use metal detectors at Commencement, Riley says he has no regrets.

“We were playing it on the safe side,” he says. “We didn’t have enough of a threat to tell people to stay away from Commencement. This was purely pro-active.”

Riley describes the atmosphere during the week before Commencement as “relatively tense.”

MIT, knowing that the World Bank protest was scheduled for Commencement, had planned for months to use metal detectors, Riley says.

But with its last-minute demand, Harvard was forced to get its metal detectors from New York.

Security at the exercises was unprecedented—including the presence of the FBI and other federal law enforcement, local sheriff deputies, CPD, Massachusetts State Police, National Guard troops and officials from the Army’s biological terrorist group.

And nothing happened.

“Commencement was great. There was only one minor complaint about the disruption and delays from security,” Riley says. “I don’t know if we averted anything but any potential that was there obviously didn’t happen.”

—Staff writer Jenifer L. Steinhardt can be reached at steinhar@fas.harvard.edu.