“This was not intended to be some kind of mastermind underhanded tactic of throwing HIPJ into chaos,” Trager said.

HIPJ member Suvrat Raju, a doctoral candidate in physics, said he found the incident humorous.

“I was amused, not angry, when I discovered Fabian Cooper’s identity,” he wrote in an e-mail. “He didn’t do us any harm—it was just funny.”

Raju said he was “personally satisfied” with an e-mail apology from Trager.

“Our disagreements with HSI may remain, but we can definitely be polite and civil to each other,” he said.

Others in the group, however, said they were not amused by Trager’s antics.

Chew said she was “shocked that [Trager] would stoop to this” and termed his posts “reckless.”

“I don’t think that Harvard should be a place where people practice to become FBI or CIA agents,” said HIPJ member Daniel DiMaggio ’04. “I think that this type of behavior deserves the utmost censure on the part of the student body and all members of the Harvard community.”

“Members of [HSI] and HIPJ have been working behind the scenes to promote a more positive dialogue on campus,” Suskewicz said. “I hope that this doesn’t interfere in any way.”

—Staff writer Daniel J. Hemel can be reached at hemel@fas.harvard.edu.