Policemen, Safety and Security officers and reporters swarmed outside the classroom of Anthropology Professor Dale Eickelman, who told a Chicago newspaper this week that he once built a bomb with the man authorities believe to be the "Unabomber" terrorist.
Eickelman, escorted by two Safety and Security officers, dodged reporters on his way into the Carpenter Hall classroom last night. Only the 12 students in his Anthropology 56 class were permitted to follow.
Eickelman, who spent much of yesterday dodging a media blitzkrieg stretching from Hanover to Chicago, told the Daily Southtown in Chicago he and Theodore Kaczynski "would go to the hardware store, use household products and make these things you might call bombs."
Eickelman and Kaczynski went to junior high school together in Evergreen Park, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. Eickelman last heard from Kaczynski in 1959, according to a College press release.
Kaczynski "had the know-how of putting together things like batteries, wire leads, potassium nitrate and whatever, and creating explosions," Eickelman told the Chicago newspaper.
Kaczynski, whom authorities believe to be responsible for killing three people and injuring 22 in a series of bombings over the last 18 years, was arrested this week at his home in Montana.
Safety and Security Officer Brian Bowen, who guarded the door of Eickleman's classroom, said he spent much of the day dealing with the media in the Anthropology Office in Carpenter Hall.
Bowen said he fended off reporters from WCAX news and the Boston Globe.
"I can't imagine what all the hubbub is about," he said. "He knew the guy 40 years ago."
Bowen called Hanover police to have a reporter from the Boston Globe removed from Carpenter Hall. The reporter entered the building several times while Eickelman was teaching, even after Safety and Security asked him to leave College property.
The reporter told The Dartmouth his editors wanted an official "no comment" from Eickelman.
Eickelman, who rescheduled his 2 p.m. class to 5 p.m., declined to comment to reporters.
"Let's go in and have our class," he told students after he entered Carpenter Hall.
Eickelman was 40 minutes late for the class.
Deborah Hodges, Eickelman's secretary, notified students in Eickelman's anthropology class of the postponement via e-mail.
The message stated, "It would be best if you do not discuss these arrangements with anybody not in the class."
The message told students to bring their Dartmouth identification cards to class. Bowen said he would be checking identification to make sure only Dartmouth students entered the classroom.
One of the students, who asked to remain nameless, said her classmates thought the message was a joke because of its unusual demands.
"Some guy thought it was a joke," she said. "He called them up and asked if it was a joke."
A different student in Eickleman's class, who also requested anonymity, said Eickleman is not the kind of person who would make bombs.
"He's not very volatile or anything like that," she said.
Before Eickleman came to last night's class, his students joked about the professor's involvement. A student said she thought Eickleman might show up wearing a disguise.
One student speculated the media would be intrigued by the professor's involvement in the Middle East.
Eickleman's anthropological work frequently takes him to the Middle East.
