Monday, approx. 6:10 p.m.

Students gathered around laptops and televisions in House social spaces to watch President Barack Obama address a nation stunned by the bombings. “Boston is a tough and resilient town, and so are its people,” Obama declared. “The American people will say a prayer for Boston tonight.” Not long afterwards, undergraduates received another University email, this time from Faculty of Arts and Science Dean Michael D. Smith, announcing that FAS classes and sections would be cancelled that evening. Later, undergraduates received an alert through MessageMe—an opt-in notification system through which Harvard sends news alerts via text, email, and voicemail—stating that the campus faced no threat and reiterating that evening classes had been called off. Raghuveer spent part of that evening emailing administrators about their communication with undergraduates throughout the day. In an email exchange with administrators that was forwarded to a House list, Raghuveer requested more information on what was happening at Harvard. Reflecting on the day, Lapp later identified communication as an area the University must be mindful of during future crises. “I think the primary lesson learned is to figure out, when we communicate, how quickly we can do it while balancing the need to have accurate information,” she said during an interview in May.

Thursday, April 18, 10:48 p.m.

With Monday's events removed in both time and distance, it seemed that Cambridge had returned to equilibrium. But the shooting of an MIT police officer on MIT's campus brought back the violence, frighteningly close to home. With the shooter at large, Riley rushed from his home to HUPD headquarters. The police chief and other officials assessed the developing situation and decided they needed more manpower. A HUPD officer who starts a shift at 3 p.m. normally leaves by 11 p.m., but that evening, Riley asked them to stay longer. Officers remained on duty until 7 a.m.—twice the time they would have worked on a normal day. Over the course of the night, other officers would call in and volunteer to help.

Thursday, 11:15 p.m.

Hogarty was asleep in her bed when her phone rang around 11:15 p.m. alerting her of violence close to campus. She and other administrators on the CMT were called at home to deal with what was unfolding in Cambridge. They would stay near their phones constantly throughout the night, translating news about the ongoing manhunt in the Greater Boston area for two men later identified as the the Boston Marathon bombers into decisions about Harvard. That information was translated into news alerts for the Harvard community.

Thursday, approx. 11:30 p.m.

In the virtual control room, HUPD spokesperson Steven G. Catalano was managing the University's communications system. He would later pass that responsibility along to a Harvard Public Affairs and Communications official. While on Monday undergraduates received only one MessageMe alert, on Thursday between 11:30 p.m. and 11:45 p.m. alone the University issued three communications warning students to stay out of the MIT area. Catalano later said that the proximity of the shooting to Harvard's campus and the possibility that Harvard affiliates might be near the scene of the crime contributed to the relative frequency of Thursday's alerts. The situations had to be treated “differently,” he said. At around midnight, the two brothers who killed the MIT officer and are suspected to be the marathon bombers drove a hijacked car down Soldiers Field Road, passing by Harvard Business School. But there was no point that night, Riley later said, at which he felt there was a direct threat to Harvard's campus.

Friday, April 19, 12:40 a.m.

Harvard issued a MessageMe alert that read, “MIT shooter situation remains active.” At around the same time, a shootout with police in Watertown left one of the two bombing suspects fatally injured as the other escaped. News outlets later reported that the surviving man, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, had previously worked as a lifeguard at the Malkin Athletic Center pool. Although the search for a former Harvard employee had left Harvard's campus, Watertown borders Cambridge, so the sense of peril among students was far from gone. As on Monday, they turned to the Internet in search of answers. Purcell, shocked by reports of gunshots fired, kept close track of incoming news through Twitter and various web sources from a friend's room in Pforzheimer House. He would not fall asleep until the early hours of the morning.

The MessageMe system was silent in the hour following the 12:40 a.m. alert. Raghuveer, still concerned about the scarcity of Monday's communications, sent an email to College administrators that was carbon copied to the Undergraduate Council list asking for an official update about the situation at Harvard. Fifteen minutes later, at around 2 a.m., Harvard sent out another MessageMe alert that stated, “HUPD monitoring the situation.” Around 3 a.m., staffers in the Office of Student Life called Raghuveer asking what undergraduates wanted to learn through communications.

Friday, approx. 4:30 a.m.

Hogarty first heard mention that Harvard might shut down for the day around 4:30 a.m., as officials began to grasp the significance of the shootout in Watertown. She said that was when administrators realized the manhunt was “much more of a broad thing.” They were considering a decision that could not be made lightly. Although the University had shut down twice that year in the face of extreme weather, before then it had not shut down since Boston's infamous blizzard of 1979.

Friday, 5:52 a.m.

“The University is closed due to public safety concerns,” read a MessageMe alert timestamped 5:52 a.m. As residents of Cambridge, Harvard students had been told to shelter indoors. The Greater Boston area was on lockdown.