Man harasses female students

By Josh Fineman About 10 female students were sexually harassed near Superblock this week, according to Victim Support Director Maureen Rush. In addition, one student reported that she was indecently assaulted. All of the victims reported the perpetrator to be an Indian male, aged 18 to 20, with short brown hair, a very thin build and thick glasses. He was wearing a tan long-sleeved shirt, vest and dark trousers at the time of the incident. One victim, who wished to remain anonymous out of fear for her own safety, said she and several of her friends were sexually harassed Monday by the man around the area of 39th and Spruce streets and 39th and Walnut streets between 8:25 p.m. and 9 p.m. She said she was walking past High Rise North when a man started walking beside her and moved startlingly closer to her. She said that the man started saying things to her, but she ignored him. According to her, he made comments such as, "Hello, I love you." She added that the man had a very deep accent. The man would not stop following her, so she turned to a nearby student and began to walk with him. She stopped in front of the Fingers, Wings and Other Things restaurant on 40th Street to see if the man would leave her alone. He walked to the traffic light at 40th and Locust streets and stood there for awhile, staring at her. After the light changed three or four times, he walked away. "He was?threatening to me personally," she said. "He wasn't just some crazy person. He was on top of you at all times. I felt physically threatened because he was walking with me, he obviously wanted something from me, he had singled me out at the time." She said that the man harassing her might have been a University student. Rush said the man approached several other women on different occasions, moved very close to them and tried to engage in conversation, saying that he "loved them." In one instance, he touched a student's hair and then touched her on the buttocks, Rush said. Although Rush said she was not sure exactly how many women have been bothered by the man, the student who did not want to be identified said that she knew of at least eight people -- several of them in her sorority -- who were harassed by the man. Before the incident, the student said she never carried any kind of defense weapon, but now she carries an alarm. "I guess it did make an impact on me," she said skeptically. "It made me more aware of my surroundings." Rush advised that if students are confronted by the man, they should try to get to a crowded area as soon as possible and talk to other people in the area. Another female student, who also wished to remain anonymous, said she was walking home at 39th and Walnut streets at about 6:50 p.m. when she was harassed by the suspect. She said that the man followed her for about half a block. He also told her that he "loved her." But when she saw two males she did not know walk past her, she asked them if they would escort her home. "The scariest thing was that I wanted to find other people," she said. "I felt like I had nowhere to go." She added that she also thought the perpetrator may have been a University student. University Police have put out a crime alert and officers on patrol have been alerted of the suspect's description. Rush urged students to pick up a blue-light phone or call University Police immediately if they see a male that fits the suspect's description.