Harvard alumni group apologizes for Unabomber entry in directory

Dylan Stableford

Harvard University's alumni association has issued an apology for references made by Ted Kaczynski, a graduate of Harvard's Class of 1962, in the school's latest directory.

A spokesman for Harvard told Boston.com that Kaczynski, the so-called "Unabomber," submitted the entry for the directory himself.

"While all members of the class who submit entries are included, we regret publishing Kaczynski's references to his convictions and apologize for any distress that it may have caused others," the Harvard Alumni Association said in a statement on Wednesday.

Kaczynski was convicted in 1998 of killing three and injuring 23 in a mail-bombing spree spanning three decades.

The alumni report issued before the class' 50th reunion listed Kaczynski's occupation as "prisoner," "8 life sentences" under the "Awards" section and home address as his Colorado prison cell: "No. 04475-046, US Penitentiary—Max, P.O. Box 8500, Florence, CO 8126-8500."

"It's funny," Gary Peterson, a fellow graduate of the Class of '62, told the Harvard Crimson. "He's more famous than anyone else in our class."

[Related: Unabomber billboard taken down]

While other Harvard alums, like Peterson, were amused by the listing, Kaczynski's victims were not.

"It's very chilling," David Gelernter, a Yale professor who lost a hand and eye to one of a Kaczynski's mail bombs, told the Boston Herald. "He's an unrepentant terrorist murderer who cut people, and slashed people to death in their kitchens, leaving them to bleed, while he hid in a shack somewhere in the West. For some institution to lend authority to him, well, I can't believe such things happen in the United States."

[Related: Norway bomber inspired by Unabomber]

Gelernter added: "The new criminals here are the publishers of this 'Red Book,' for their passive collusion with this murderer."

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