Campus Alert Archive
Tufts

Medford Is Not Boston, But It's Inside the Perimeter: Tufts Closes Through a Suburban Lockdown

MAshelter in placeemergency notificationmedium confidence
Confirmed Threat

On the morning of April 19, 2013, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick imposed a shelter-in-place advisory that included Cambridge and surrounding cities while law enforcement pursued Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Tufts University, straddling the Medford/Somerville town line approximately three miles north of MIT, was inside the inner perimeter of the manhunt zone even though Medford itself was not formally named in the Governor's initial advisory. Tufts closed for the day, pushed TuftsAlert messages, canceled admitted-students events scheduled for April 19-21, and used The Tufts Daily as the primary student-facing information channel. The lockdown lifted at approximately 6:00 PM EDT.

Alerts
4
Response
min
Killed
0
Injured
0
Institution
Tufts University
Private R1 · MA
~12,000 studentsTuftsAlert
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

4 messages in sequence

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTSMS
Approximate reconstruction352 chars
TuftsAlert: Tufts University is closed today. All classes and events are cancelled. The Medford/Somerville and Boston Health Sciences campuses are closed. Members of the Tufts community should shelter in place wherever they are. Massachusetts State Police, Boston Police, and the FBI are conducting an active investigation. Further updates will follow.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

The first morning TuftsAlert message bundled the Medford/Somerville main campus (undergraduate) and the Boston Health Sciences campus (medical, dental, veterinary) into a single closure notice — operationally important because the two campuses are seven miles apart and in different municipalities
Medford was not initially named in Governor Patrick's shelter-in-place advisory (which named Boston, Watertown, Cambridge, Newton, Waltham, Belmont, and Brookline), but Tufts closed on a precautionary basis given the active manhunt and the campus's proximity to MIT
Tufts's [Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine in Grafton, Massachusetts](https://now.tufts.edu/2026/04/21/jumbos-run) was approximately 35 miles outside the manhunt perimeter and was not closed
UPDATEEmail+3h 30m
Approximate reconstruction440 chars
TuftsAlert: The Governor has expanded the shelter-in-place advisory to additional cities including Cambridge and Watertown. Tufts University remains closed for the day. Jumbo Days events for admitted students scheduled for today, tomorrow, and Sunday have been CANCELLED. Admitted students who have traveled to campus should contact admissions for housing and travel guidance. Residence hall students should remain in their residence halls.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

[Jumbo Days](https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2013/04/22/with-admitted-student-weekends-disrupted-universities-went-online/) — Tufts's admitted-students program — was scheduled for April 19, 20, and 21, 2013; cancellation came mid-morning of April 19 after some admitted students had already arrived on campus
Tufts and BU both faced the same admitted-students-weekend dilemma: students from across the country had traveled to Boston, were inside the shelter zone, and had nowhere to go
The 'should contact admissions for housing and travel guidance' framing pushed admitted-student logistics back through admissions, which was operating remotely under the shelter advisory
UPDATEEmail+8h 30m
Approximate reconstruction396 chars
TuftsAlert: The shelter-in-place advisory remains in effect. Continue to remain indoors. Tufts Dining is open in residence halls; do not travel between campus buildings. Carmichael Dining Center will offer takeaway service from 4:00 to 7:00 PM for students in residence halls within walking distance who require a hot meal. Use ID for entry. Updates will follow as the regional situation evolves.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Carmichael Dining Center, on the upper campus near Houston Hall and South Hall, was the closest dining facility to most undergraduate residence halls and the natural anchor for the limited takeaway service
Limited takeaway from a single dining hall was a less extensive operational model than [Northeastern's same-day delivery](https://news.northeastern.edu/2013/04/19/marathonbombingrelief/); Tufts's Medford/Somerville campus is geographically less dense than Northeastern's Huntington Avenue corridor
'Do not travel between campus buildings' was unusual phrasing — most US campus shelter advisories ask students to remain in their building rather than addressing inter-building movement specifically
ALL CLEARSMS+12h 30m
Approximate reconstruction365 chars
TuftsAlert: Governor Patrick has lifted the shelter-in-place advisory. The suspect has been taken into custody in Watertown. Tufts University remains closed tomorrow, Saturday, April 20. Classes will resume Monday, April 22. Counseling services are available through Counseling and Mental Health Services for any community member affected by the past week's events.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was [captured in Watertown at approximately 8:45 PM EDT on April 19, 2013](https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2013/04/19/177885868/shots-explosions-heard-as-boston-manhunt-continues); the shelter-in-place had been lifted by Governor Patrick at approximately 6:00 PM EDT, before the capture
Tufts's Saturday closure matched BU, Harvard, and Northeastern; the Monday April 22 resumption likewise aligned across the Boston-area private R1 cluster
Jumbo Days admitted-students events were [eventually rescheduled or migrated online](https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2013/04/22/with-admitted-student-weekends-disrupted-universities-went-online/), in some cases as virtual sessions — among the earliest higher-education uses of online-only admitted-student programming
Context

Background

Tufts University is a smaller private R1 whose principal Medford/Somerville campus sits approximately three miles north of MIT, with its Boston Health Sciences Campus (medical, dental, veterinary) seven miles south in downtown Boston. On April 19, 2013, the Tufts main campus was inside the operational perimeter of the Boston Marathon manhunt even though Medford itself was not formally named in Governor Deval Patrick's initial shelter-in-place advisory, which listed Boston, Watertown, Cambridge, Newton, Waltham, Belmont, and Brookline. Tufts closed both campuses for the day and pushed TuftsAlert messages with operational guidance; The Tufts Daily produced extensive contemporaneous coverage that remains a primary source for the day. The most consequential operational decision was the cancellation of Jumbo Days — Tufts's admitted-students program — for April 19-21, 2013. Admitted students who had already traveled to campus needed housing and travel guidance under an active shelter advisory; admissions staff working remotely coordinated the response. Tufts University Police, unlike NUPD and BUPD, did not contribute officers to the Watertown manhunt. The lockdown lifted at approximately 6:00 PM EDT; Tsarnaev was captured at 8:45 PM EDT. Tufts remained closed Saturday and resumed classes Monday, April 22 — matching the Boston-area private R1 schedule. The case is significant for the archive because it documents (1) how a smaller R1 in an adjacent municipality (Medford / Somerville rather than Boston) navigated a shelter-in-place advisory it was operationally inside but not formally named in, (2) the admitted-students-weekend cancellation logistics common across Tufts, BU, Harvard, and Northeastern, and (3) the earliest higher-education uses of online-only admitted-student programming as a Jumbo Days substitute.
Analysis

Key Findings

Tufts closed its Medford/Somerville and Boston Health Sciences campuses on April 19, 2013, even though Medford was not initially named in Governor Patrick's shelter-in-place advisory — a precautionary closure based on the campus's location three miles north of MIT
Tufts canceled its Jumbo Days admitted-students program (April 19-21, 2013) mid-morning on April 19; some admitted students had already traveled to campus and needed remote housing/travel guidance from admissions
Tufts's limited dining-takeaway operation from Carmichael Dining Center was a less extensive model than Northeastern's same-day delivery, reflecting the less-dense Medford/Somerville campus geography
Tufts University Police, unlike Northeastern and Boston University police, did not contribute officers to the Watertown manhunt
Tufts remained closed Saturday and resumed classes Monday, April 22, 2013, matching the Boston-area private R1 schedule of BU, Harvard, and Northeastern
The Boston-area admitted-students-weekend cancellations of April 19-21 produced some of the earliest higher-education uses of online-only admitted-student programming
Outcome
No injuries at Tufts. Tufts canceled its Jumbo Days admitted-students program (April 19-21, 2013) and pushed admitted-students communications to email. Tufts University Police did not contribute officers to the Watertown manhunt, unlike NUPD and BUPD. Classes resumed Monday, April 22. The Tufts Daily produced extensive contemporaneous coverage that remains a primary source for the day. The case demonstrates how a smaller private R1 in an adjacent municipality (Medford / Somerville, not Boston) navigated a shelter-in-place advisory it was inside operationally even when its town was not formally named.
Provenance

Sources

  1. News
    Tufts University: The Tufts Daily - TIME (How Boston's School Websites are Reacting)
    nation.time.com
  2. Official
    Calling All Runners for the 2023 Boston Marathon - Tufts University
    m.tufts.edu
  3. Official
    Jumbos on the Run - Tufts Now
    now.tufts.edu
  4. News
    With Admitted Student Weekends Disrupted, Universities Went Online - Boston Magazine
    bostonmagazine.com
  5. News
    A Timeline Of The Boston Manhunt - NPR
    npr.org
  6. News
    'The Hunt Is Over:' Police Apprehend Marathon Bombing Suspect - NPR
    npr.org
  7. Source
    Boston Marathon bombing - Wikipedia
    en.wikipedia.org
Tags
boston-marathon-bombingshelter-in-placelockdownterrorismtuftsprivate-r1medfordsomervillemanhuntjumbo-days-cancellationonline-admitted-students2013
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion