As anthrax cases continue to pop up across the nation, a Penn professor has received two suspicious mailings within the space of the week, and has reportedly been warned by the federal government that he could be the target of attacks, according to employees of the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
As a result of one letter and one package sent to Computer Science Professor David Farber, both of which were suspicious enough to elicit calling University Police and the city's Rapid Assessment Team, several Engineering employees are reportedly taking antibiotics to guard against anthrax.
Computer and Information Science Department Manager Amy Dunn, who personally handled the first suspicious letter delivered on Oct. 31, is currently on a month's prescription for the antibiotic doxycycline, similar to the the more well-known Cipro, which has been used to treat those exposed to anthrax. She would not specify how many employees are taking antibiotics.
The first letter sent to Farber, who is the Federal Communications Commission's chief technologist, did not contain any suspicious powder but did contained "anti-government, pro-Taliban kind of rants," according to Mark West, manager of the computer science and electrical engineering business office.
The FBI decided not to test the initial letter for anthrax because it was not deemed a serious enough threat, Dunn said, though the University could choose to do so independently. Her department is unaware if the FBI will test the second mailing, a package received on Monday, though both mailings were turned over to the FBI for possible testing.
The FBI, Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush and University spokespersons Phyllis Holtzman and Ron Ozio would neither confirm nor deny that the suspicious mail was received or that the professor had been warned that he was possibly a target.
Farber himself declined to comment on the mailings.
Dunn expressed frustration that the letter was not being tested by the FBI, and felt the University was not taking enough precautionary steps in the face of what seemed to her a credible target.
"If the Health Department [and] FBI say, 'Stay on [antibiotics] because you're in a high risk area,' that's not comforting," she said.
According to West, Farber had recently received warnings from some of his government colleagues to watch his mail.
"What annoys us is that this guy got a warning from his colleagues and then two days later got a suspicious letter," West said. "Why doesn't that warrant a threat in the FBI's opinion?"
When he opened the initial letter, Farber was wearing protective gloves, which have been given to all University mail employees. The second mailing was not opened and was immediately turned over to authorities.
In light of recent events, Farber's mail is now separated in the Engineering mailroom and placed into a box, which is then delivered to his department's main office.
And employees expressed concern over the lack of security in the facility's mailroom.
"There's no security in the mailrooms," Dunn said. "I thought they were supposed to be screening them, but evidently they're not."
Farber opened the initial letter but not the second mailing. University Police and the city's Rapid Assessment Team reported to the scene on both occasions and confiscated the items.
Engineering Dean Eduardo Glandt did not return a request for comment yesterday.
Farber, a high profile professor who was declared one of People magazine's "Most Interesting people" and was one of 12 expert witnesses to testify against Microsoft in its antitrust trial, reportedly opened the initial letter Thursday morning in his department's business office, after being out sick on Wednesday.
Following the Sept. 11 attacks, Farber has posted information regarding the attacks on his Web site and has been out front explaining why the United States is so hated in parts of the Arab world.
