Woman Files Security Suit

A Cambridge woman who was raped at knife-point two years ago in the Quad filed suit against Harvard last month, alleging the University failed to adequately protect her Faculty Row apartment.

The woman, the daughter of a Harvard professor, is seeking an undisclosed amount more than $25,000 in compensation for what her suit calls "serious physical, psychological and emotional injuries."

According to the suit, filed in Middlesex Superior Court on February 2, the woman was "assaulted, bound, gagged, raped and threatened" by an unknown assailant in her family's apartment on Linnaean St. on April 1 at 10 a.m.

The suit says the assailant was able to gain entry to the apartment through a sliding patio door "which was not capable of being reasonably secured from unlawful entry."

The suit also alleges that Harvard failed to notify the woman or her family of other unlawful entries in the same housing complex, which comprises "Faculty Row." In addition, the University did not install the same security devices in the woman's suite that it did in other Linnaean St. residences, the suit charges.

The woman could not be reached for comment yesterday. Her attorney, Lynn Weissberg, and the woman's mother would not comment.

Harvard's General Counsel Margaret H. Marshall also declined to comment yesterday.

Richard J. Riley, a private attorney who is handling the case for Harvard, said yesterday that the apartment where the woman lived was reasonably secure. He said the sliding patio door had locks and the suite's-tenants were given keys.

But Riley acknowledged that the University did not inform the woman of other break-ins or install special security devices in her suite.

"The issue is concerning prior criminal activity in the area," Riley said yesterday. "The University's position is that there's nothing about the nature of prior criminal activity that makes it liable."

Harvard police reports from April 1991 listed the suspect, who has not been apprehended, as a Black male of average weight, between 25 and 30 years of age. The assailant had a moustache and was wearing a black military jacket.

Other residents of Linnaean St. said at the time they believed the alleged rapist was planning to burglarize the house. Another Faculty Row resident, Eileen O'Keefe-Roberts, reported then that her patio door locks were broken at the same time.

Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett '57, who lives on Faculty Row, said his apartment was broken into "about six years ago." He said an alarm system had been installed in "most of the units on Faculty Row" after break-in.

Police Chief Paul E. Johnson declined to comment on the case yesterday

Other residents of Linnaean St. said at the time they believed the alleged rapist was planning to burglarize the house. Another Faculty Row resident, Eileen O'Keefe-Roberts, reported then that her patio door locks were broken at the same time.

Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett '57, who lives on Faculty Row, said his apartment was broken into "about six years ago." He said an alarm system had been installed in "most of the units on Faculty Row" after break-in.

Police Chief Paul E. Johnson declined to comment on the case yesterday