Campus Alert Archive
Harvard

Seventh Bomb Threat in Two Months Brings Long Guns to Wasserstein — But No MessageMe

MAbomb threatadvisorymedium confidence
Confirmed HoaxDetermined to be a hoax. The institutional response is documented because it reveals how the alert system performed under a perceived real threat.

At 5:28 PM EST on Sunday, January 21, 2024, Harvard University Police and Cambridge Police responded to a phoned bomb threat against Wasserstein Hall at Harvard Law School. Heavily armed officers with long guns entered the building while a student-organization meeting was in progress on a lower floor. HUPD determined the call was a hoax and concluded there was 'no credible threat'; no MessageMe emergency notification was issued.

Alerts
1
Response
—
Killed
0
Injured
0
Institution
Harvard University
Private R1 · MA
~24,000 studentsRaveMessageMe
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

1 message in sequence

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTPhone
Approximate reconstructionHarvard Crimson reporting on Wasserstein bomb threat, citing HUPD378 chars
Harvard University Police Department received a report of a bomb threat at Wasserstein Hall at Harvard Law School. HUPD and Cambridge Police are responding. Officers are clearing the building. There is no credible threat at this time and no emergency notification will be issued. Members of the Law School community in the building are asked to comply with officer instructions.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Reconstructed from Harvard Crimson coverage — HUPD did not issue any external alert text. The verbatim message presented here is a reconstruction of the radio dispatch language
Notably, HUPD did NOT trigger MessageMe (Harvard's Rave-based emergency notification system) for this incident, having determined the threat was not credible before campus-wide notification thresholds were met
Witnesses described seeing officers with 'heavily armed guards with rifles and more advanced weaponry' — an unusually aggressive tactical response for a threat that did not trigger a Clery emergency notification
Context

Background

On Sunday evening, January 21, 2024, Harvard Law School's Wasserstein Hall — the law school's main classroom and student-organization building — became the seventh target in a two-month wave of bomb threats against Harvard University. HUPD logged the call at 5:28 PM EST and responded with Cambridge Police; officers with long guns entered the building while a second-year law student's evening organization meeting was underway on a lower floor. HUPD concluded the threat was not credible and declined to issue a MessageMe emergency notification — a deliberate de-escalation choice that contrasts with the more aggressive notification posture taken at the April 2023 Science Center Plaza incident earlier in the wave. The threat wave was eventually traced to William A. Giordani, 55, of Manchester, NH, who pleaded guilty in January 2024 to one count of concealing a federal felony and was sentenced in April 2024 to three years' probation as part of a broader extortion scheme that included the controlled detonation of a hoax device on April 13, 2023. The Wasserstein incident is a useful case study in how Harvard's Clery posture adapted as the wave continued: by January 2024, HUPD was confident enough in its assessment process to skip MessageMe entirely when a threat lacked specificity.
Analysis

Key Findings

The seventh Harvard bomb threat in approximately two months, escalating the institutional cost of the underlying extortion plot
No MessageMe emergency notification was issued despite a heavily armed police response — Harvard's Clery posture had recalibrated as the threat wave continued
Suspect William A. Giordani was sentenced in April 2024 to three years' probation; the Wasserstein call is one of the threats his prosecution covered
Wasserstein Hall is the law school's main classroom building, making the choice not to alert students directly notable from a campus-safety-policy perspective
Outcome
Threat determined to be a hoax. No injuries, no evacuation order, no MessageMe SMS. Marked the seventh Harvard-affiliated bomb threat in approximately two months, part of a wave that authorities later traced to [an extortion scheme by William A. Giordani](https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/new-hampshire-man-sentenced-harvard-university-bomb-extortion-case) of Manchester, NH, who was sentenced to three years' probation in April 2024.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Student Paper
    Bomb Threat at Harvard Law School on Sunday Marks Seventh in 2 Months (The Harvard Crimson)
    thecrimson.com
  2. Official
    New Hampshire Man Sentenced in Harvard University Bomb Extortion Case (US DOJ)
    justice.gov
  3. Official
    Bomb Threats | Harvard University Police Department
    hupd.harvard.edu
  4. Student Paper
    Man Who Placed Fake Bomb At Harvard Sentenced to 3 Years Probation (The Harvard Crimson)
    thecrimson.com
Tags
bomb-threatprofessional-schoollaw-schoolharvard-lawwasserstein-hallno-emergency-notificationconfirmed-hoaxextortionmassachusettsHoax
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion