On Sunday evening, an unidentified man assaulted and robbed a College student near Plimpton Dormitory. According to Campus Police, as the student was walking down Lessey Street toward town, she was knocked over the head, rendered unconscious and robbed of $40 in cash. The victim described the perpetrator as a male, approximately six feet tall, wearing a dark colored hooded garment and dark colored pants.

Campus Police immediately sent out a campus-wide e-mail describing the details of the incident and also posted fliers in dormitories around campus.

Students and administrators responded with concern and surprise.

Iris Hartley '08, a resident of Plimpton, said that she was now taking more precautions to be safe on campus. "I don't feel quite as safe on campus," shes said. "I'm using Safe Ride more often ... but I do think that this was an isolated incident."

"[The administration] was as shocked as anyone by this incident, which is the first such incident in a very long time," said President Anthony Marx. "We have been discussing right away how the College should respond in order to ensure the safety of everyone on campus."

Stacey Johnston '08, a resident of Plimpton, said that she felt unsafe even before the mugging incident. "I lived in Plaza last year and felt completely sheltered from anything and anyone that wasn't part of our college and although … that may have been a false sense of security, nothing happened that caused me to question it," she said. "Living on the hill has never felt like that to me, we're not on campus and as soon as we step outside the dorm we are in no way separated or protected from any of the potentially dangerous people around us."

Spencer Robbins '08, the Plimpton resident counselor (RC), agreed with Johnston and said that safety had already been a concern for residents living on the Hill even before Sunday's incident. "Thankfully the administration, Residential Life and Campus Police are meeting with RCs and students [who are living] on the Hill to discuss ways to make the Hill safer and ways to make the Hill feel safer," he said. "Definitely there's going to be a lot of attention put towards what clearly is a problem."

Chief of Campus Police John Carter encouraged students to take precautions to avoid potentially unsafe situations. "The community is our greatest resource in minimizing the opportunity for criminal activity," he said. "As always, we encourage the reporting of suspicious persons and circumstances right away. The best incident is the one that never occurs because the community and the police prevented it by working together."

Carter urged students to be aware of their surroundings everywhere on campus. "There are many steps that one may take to lessen the potential of being a victim of a crime," he said.

He also urged students not to travel alone, to pre-program the numbers for the Amherst town police and Campus Police into student cell phones, to know the locations of the emergency phones on campus and to use the SAFE Ride service. Carter also discouraged students from taking a shortcut through the woods between the Emily Dickinson Homestead and the Evergreens because the area is isolated and poorly lit.

In conjunction with the Dean of Students' Office and Facilities Planning and Management, Campus Police continues to take measures to increase safety on campus such as installing increased lighting on Seelye Street, trimming trees in the area and the addition of an emergency phone on the Marsh walkway.

Campus Police currently has plans to increase the lighting along Churchill and Lessey Streets and to re-trim the trees. In response to this recent robbery, Campus Police has increased its patrols of the area.

The Amherst town police, who are currently conducting an investigation of the incident, could not be reached for comment.