What follows is an email sent out to Harvard Law School this afternoon. Hauser's fifth floor is where Alan Dershowitz has his office. Are you OK Dersh? Baby we need you. Critics of Israel would be nowhere without you describing the '67 borders as "Auschwitz borders." Update: AP says the envelope was addressed to Dershowitz and notions the Gaza angle. [Phil Weiss]
email follows:
Dear members of the HLS Community,
Earlier today, a letter delivered to an office on the Fifth floor of
Hauser Hall was opened by a faculty assistant and was found to contain some
white powder. The university police and the
Cambridge police department were notified and
responded to the scene immediately, along with the Cambridge Fire Department
and the university's Environmental Health & Safety team.
There is no indication of adverse effects to any of the people who were
in the vicinity of the letter when it was opened. Samples have been taken for
laboratory testing by the investigating authorities.
While testing has yet to be completed, the authorities have concluded
and informed the law school, based on the investigation thus far, that they do
not believe that an evacuation of Hauser Hall is warranted. Nevertheless,
because the investigation is ongoing, caution and prudence require that the
fifth floor of the building remain off limits until the investigators have
cleared the scene. Moreover, in order to minimize the possibility of
interference with the investigators and responders, the law school
administration is asking that anyone intending to study or conduct
business in Hauser not do so until further notice informing the
community that the building can once again be accessed freely.
Any students and staff presently in Hauser should feel free to leave if
they so choose. Classes scheduled in Hauser later today or this evening, are
being rescheduled, and any affected individuals or groups should contact the
office of the Registrar for further information regarding new locations for
those activities.
We will continue to update the community as we learn more.
Francis X. McCrossan
Dean for Administration
Harvard
Law School
