Dreszer, a sophomore, said that he, too, was roughed up. He has filed a complaint against a university police officer who, he said, grabbed him by the collar and threatened to punch him in the face.
“The thing I’m most surprised about is the fear from the security guards and the police,’’ he said of the occupation.
But some police and students did manage to get along. As students settled into their tents last night, one tossed a basketball back and forth with an officer.
As rain turned the campground to mud yesterday afternoon, all the tents were empty except for two that housed students on laptops.
The plan was never to stop going to class, organizers said, but to occupy the site in shifts, using it as a gathering point and visual statement.
“Symbolic value is important; it’s always been important,’’ said Joshua Eaton, an alumnus who works as a temporary worker at the university and has been volunteering with Occupy Boston.
To assume that a school like Harvard cannot be part of the 99 percent, he added, seems ridiculous.
“Look, I graduated in 2010 and haven’t been able to find a full-time job since then,’’ he said. “I’m the first person in my family to go to college, and I worked hard to go to Harvard, but I feel that the way the country is now, the American dream isn’t possible.’’
Mary Carmichael can be reached at mary.carmichael@globe.com. Billy Baker can be reached at billybaker@globe.com.