Many Academics On Edge After Mail Bombings

Almost two weeks after a Yale computer scientist and a UC San Francisco pediatric geneticist were badly injured by package bombs, many academics are anxious about the possibility of future attacks.

Virtually all universities have heightened surveillance of mail and several have called in local bomb squads to examine suspicious packages.

“That was a little too close to home,” said USC computer scientist Paul Rosenbloom. “My wife is a pediatrician, and the fact that a pediatrician in San Francisco and a computer scientist at Yale were bombed disturbs us. I’m taking it seriously and looking at my mail much more closely.”

Federal law enforcement officials believe that the two bombings were accomplished by the same terrorist who committed 12 similar bombings around the country from 1978 to 1987. The individual or group, known as “FC” in a letter claiming responsibility, has attacked scientists or science-related businesses with mail bombs in packages measuring roughly 8 by 11 inches, and 2 to 3 inches thick.

Both men attacked two weeks ago remain hospitalized but are improving.

Several scientists contacted by The Times last week were willing to speak only if their names were withheld. “I wonder whether having your name in a news item will increase the risk,” said a computer scientist at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md. “In today’s environment, you don’t want to call attention to yourself.”

“Please leave my name out of it,” said a USC geneticist, even though he conceded that, “for any one particular person, the risk is probably pretty low. Do I have a graduate student open packages for me? No, but I am very aware when I get any kind of package . . . at home or at work.”

Concern is high on the campus of Cal State Sacramento because the return addresses on the two most recent mail bombs contained the names of local faculty. The return address on the bomb received by UC San Francisco’s Charles Epstein indicated the package was from James Hill, chairman of the department of chemistry at Cal State Sacramento. The return address on the Yale bomb indicated it was from Mary Jane Lee, chairwoman of the department of computer sciences there.

Lee no longer heads the department, suggesting that the bomber was working from an out-of-date directory. Neither Hill nor Lee is a suspect in the bombings, according to Norman Scarr, chief of the campus police.

Both Scarr and Hill said FBI agents conducted extensive interviews on campus during the past week, looking for information that might point to a suspect. Scarr said that the return addresses on the packages were apparently of a pre-printed type that is no longer used on campus. That, combined with FC’s apparent use of an old catalogue, suggests that the bomber’s contact with the campus was at least two or three years ago.

Lee could not be reached for comment.

Concern also was high at UC San Francisco after the bombing there, according to campus Police Chief Ron Nelson.

Nelson said that his office had received as many as 15 calls day about suspicious packages and that the bomb squad had been called out about half a dozen times. UC Irvine police called the Orange County bomb squad last week for a suspicious package addressed to a researcher who had previously worked with Epstein, but it too proved harmless, campus Police Chief Kathleen Stanley said.

Not everyone is anxious, however. Computer scientist Gerard G.L. Meyer of Johns Hopkins University said he did not feel threatened. “Something that happened once or twice among 200 million people is a small occurrence. You have more chance of being hit by a truck or a sniper. . . . I’m taking no special precautions with my mail. I’m not going to spend my life being panicked.”