Grad Student Assaulted; Second Attack in 3 Weeks

A young man attacked a Harvard graduate student in Astronomy as she was leaving the Harvard Observatory on Garden Street at 6:30 p. m. Saturday.

The woman had been badly beaten. One half of her face was purple and swollen, and her skirt was ripped, Jon Lash '72, who was sitting on bells in Currier House where the woman fled, said.

Lash said that the woman, whom police do not want identified, was "badly shaken but not hysterical. She asked for a safety pin to attach her skirt," he added.

According to Lash, a Radcliffe student had heard the screams and went to see what was happening. When approached, the attacker became frightened and ran away.

The girl who was attacked described the attacker was dark, about 6 feet tall, and 16 or 17 years old. He was wearing an army jacket and was carrying no weapons, she said.

This attack has been the second in three weeks. The last one took place Oct. 13 in an off-campus Radcliffe House, when a Radcliffe sophomore was raped. The sophomore described the rapist as dark-haired, about 5'10" and 19 or 20 years old. He wore faded jeans and a tan jacket.

Harvard police Chief Robert B. Tonis said that this attacker was definitely not the same man who committed the crime three weeks ago.

However, Cambridge police have drawn up a composite picture of the first rapist which they are now circulating among campus policemen. So far no arrests have been made in either case.

Security has tightened around Radcliffe grounds. Guards have been stationed at all Radcliffe dorms. The Cambridge police have also begun intensive patrols of the area.

Last night a plainclothes Cambridge policeman with a German shepherd was patrolling Radcliffe; the dog was trained to attack men only.

He told Lash that when the police began to clamp down on security, the typical number of rape attempts dropped rapidly.