College dean Rakesh Khurana in an interview Friday urged students to remain vigilant after a recent spate of local crime and prepare many students to travel for Thanksgiving amid the pandemic.
On November 12th, a man appeared who appeared to be under the influence drove a truck into Harvard Yard, crashed into the edge of the Lamont library and nearly hit several students. The week before a male attacker – accompanied by two other male suspects – stabbed a Cambridge resident near the Mather house.
Khurana called the incidents “very worrying” and said that keeping college members safe was “of the utmost importance”.
“We live in a city and we live on an open campus, and that open campus generates a lot of energy, but it’s permeable,” he said. “That means we have to be very, very careful about our surroundings.”
Khurana said campus resources, including Harvard police, Securitas guards, and residential security protocols, are all designed to help keep students safe.
While students look forward to a break from class during the Thanksgiving break, Khurana admitted that many students will travel during the vacation and return to campus afterwards – a first since the pandemic began – and said the college is respecting the travel plans of the country Students.
“We always want to respect the choices our students make and how they want to spend those days,” he said. “We know that there are many students who are both on campus and many students who are traveling.”
During Friday’s interview, Khurana added that students should be aware of the university’s current health guidelines, including Congregation Size Limitations and increased Covid-19 testing frequency for students on campus after the Thanksgiving break. College students living in Harvard’s dormitories will be required to submit three tests per week starting Nov. 28, the college said in an email last week.
“We all need to be vigilant as we enter this first major travel season while the pandemic continues, but also realizing that in many areas of our nation we are in a better place than we were before the vaccination,” said Khurana called.
– Contributor Taylor C. Peterman contributed to the coverage.
—Author’s representative Alex M. Koller can be reached at alex.koller@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexmkoller.
