Calm rising through storm
Harvard University, with its 20,000 students and 500-plus buildings, joined the rest of the Eastern Seaboard Monday in getting pummeled by Hurricane Sandy, as the wet, windy, and widespread behemoth rolled over New England like a tank. On the 210-acre Cambridge campus, the storm peaked from 3 to 8 p.m. Wind gusts of 50 to 60 mph sent periodic bands of rain singing through the air like bullets. On the top floor of the 10-story Holyoke Center, the second-highest campus building, bursts of wind tore past ceiling-high plate glass and created a 12-tone concert of ripping, sawing, and sanding, accompanied by a chorus of sirens from the streets below. “This is largely going to be a wind event,” said Gary Kassabian at mid-afternoon. He is the University’s managing director of environmental health, safety, and emergency management, one of the hundreds of core personnel who hunkered down through the storm in readiness. “It’s a...