These drills made administrators walk through every applicable step of emergency response plans, and were followed by extensive debriefing.

More regularly, the IST meets to perform “table-top drills,” a face-to-face discussion between all parties of measures outlined in the plan.

But Vautin says sometimes it is impossible to prepare with any specificity for what might afflict Harvard.

“Some things you can preplan, but some things you realize as it’s unfolding,” Vautin says. “We have a flexible enough plan to respond on the fly.”

Director of University Health Services (UHS) and IST member David S. Rosenthal ’59 says the team took advantage of the President’s Day snowstorm to act out the CMP’s instructions, using a conference call system already in place.

All of the key players on emergency management teams carry a special conference call code number to get in touch in the event of an emergency regardless of their location, Wrinn says.

Rosenthal also says he has enhanced the emergency plans of UHS through communication with other schools.

“I had a meeting of nine Ivy league health service directors, plus MIT, the University of Chicago and Stanford,” Rosenthal says. “We discussed crisis management planning. Harvard and Stanford are ahead of the pack.”

Securing Students

The administration’s Student Health Coordinating Board is at the forefront of the student-focused side of crisis management. The board published a Crisis Management Manual in the fall of 2001 that provides a centralized framework to deal with an emergency.

The manual has been used a number of times—including during and after the tragedies of Sept. 11—says Assistant Provost Marsha H. Semuels, who works with the board.

 “Our main job is to make sure students know these resources exist,” she says.

The guidelines apply not only to emergencies such as terrorist attacks, Semuels says, but also the death of a single student.

“Although the event may be different, the emotional impact of a terrorist event or a suicide is the same in the distress they cause in the student population,” she says.

In addition to emotional support, the University is implementing new safety measures—including extra officers stationed at gates and on patrols—to beef up security on campus.