“It’s like any other crime,” Evanston City Mnager Robert Crum said. “We’re taking it very seriously.”

Since Sept. 27, seven or eight assaults on Northwestern students have been reported. The number varies because the Evanston Police Department is unsure whether or not to include a recent “purse-snatching” in the total, said Al Cubbage, vice president for University Relations.

Michael Peery, Commander of Crime Investigation for the Evanston Police Department, said weapons were used in some, but not all, of the assaults.

Of the recent attacks, only two have occurred directly on Northwestern’s campus. The rest have occurred in nearby areas, Cubbage said. Dalia Naamani-Goldman, an administration reporter for Northwestern’s student newspaper, The Daily Northwestern, who has covered the crime wave, said most of the attacks have occurred “on the fringes” of downtown Evanston, a city of 74,239 located approximately 13 miles north of Chicago on the Lake Michigan shore, or in or near Northwestern’s Fraternity Quad. The first robbery was reported on Sept. 27, and the most recent occurred on Nov. 11, when two female students were robbed about a block away from campus by a group of four males, one of whom brandished a handgun.

Northwestern has taken several steps to ensure students’ safety.

“The offices most affiliated with this have developed a task force.” Cubbage said. The involved parties include the Office of Student Affairs, Northwestern University Police, staff and administrators. Northwestern has also expanded its nighttime student shuttle service and hired additional private security units to patrol the campus at night. Some of the nighttime security patrol positions that were once held by students are now held by professionals.

“A lot of people are using the escort service,” Naamani-Goldman said. “Females especially are much less likely to walk alone at night.”

Northwestern University has asked for Evanston’s help in preventing these crimes, and the city has responded with a plan to upgrade streetlights, including those around Northwestern’s campus, in the spring. Evanston has also assigned detectives to the case, Crum said.

The Evanston Police Department is still investigating the string of assaults and does not have any suspects yet, Peery said.

Capt.Russ Shaw, associate director of Marquette’s Department of Public Safety, said crimes like these could happen at Marquette, or at any other campus, for that matter.

“Certainly, they could happen on any campus,” he said. “I think it comes down to each student using good common sense.”

Shaw said students can take several steps to ensure their safety.

“Use the L.I.M.O. or escort services,” he said. “Even after the L.I.M.O.s are done, we have a late-night shuttle that runs after 3 a.m. now. We don’t want to see any students walking alone at night. If need be, we’ll have a squad drive a student home.”

Shaw also said it was a good idea for students to walk in groups, use main thoroughfares and avoid alleys, especially at night. Talking on cell phones while walking is not a good idea, Shaw said, because they are distracting and may invite a mugging because they “advertise” that an individual has something to steal.

“Be aware of your environment,” Shaw said. “If you’re not paying attention, you become a target.”

Several of the Northwestern students who were assaulted were relieved of their cell phones, according to Northwestern Police Department’s crime reports.