Three unidentified men indecently assaulted a female student Thursday night on the 3700 block of Spruce Street, outside the Quadrangle, around 11:50 p.m, according to University Police.
"A complainant was approached by three males," Chief of Police Thomas Rambo said. "One of the males [made] a lewd comment to the complainant. The male then indecently touched her -- which is an assault. The complainant then left the area."
The three men fled the scene and were seen getting into a 1990s black Buick LeSabre with a Pennsylvania license plate of FCX9736.
Shortly thereafter, the victim, a Quad resident, called the police.
It is unknown whether the three suspects in the Quad assault are affiliated with the University because they have not yet been identified, Rambo said.
Police are looking into three suspects. Rambo described one male as approximately 5'9", of "heavy build, [having] short cropped hair, wearing a dark green shirt and jeans."
The second male was "six foot two, thin with a handlebar moustache," Rambo said. "He was wearing a white sleeveless shirt and jeans. The other male was six feet tall, average to large build."
Two of the three suspects are black males, and the third is either a black male or a light-skinned Latino male.
"The complainant has been interviewed and is working with the Philadelphia Police Special Victims Unit and the University of Pennsylvania Special Services," in addition to University police detectives, Rambo said.
Also, "all police officers in this division and throughout the city have been given information on the vehicle" that the suspects were seen entering after the assault, Rambo said.
Officers have been instructed to stop the vehicle if they spot it, he continued.
While there were patrollers in the area on the night of the assault, the University has increased their number on the 3700 block of Spruce Street in response to the attack.
This is the second alleged indecent assault that has taken place on Penn's campus this academic year. The first occurred on Aug. 27 in Hamilton College House when Marshall Thompson, a 29-year-old male, entered the unsecured room of a female student on a floor where he was not authorized to be. Thompson was an employee of Penn Jersey Window Cleaning, a company that was under subcontract with the University.
Despite these recent crimes, students say they generally feel safe on campus.
"I thought that was pretty horrible and random considering we have all [this] security everywhere," Wharton freshman Chad Mims said, referring to last week's incident. "Crime will never be zero. It's just bound to happen. I think [Penn is] doing a great job as it is."
Still, Nursing freshman Meghan Bredin noticed "strange men walking around" campus lately, one of whom approached her several days ago. However, "during the nighttime, there seems to be a lot of security around, and I'm not as nervous," she said.
"I definitely [would] say that I feel really safe in the Quad and on campus in general," College freshman Jesse Baver said. But he suggested that perhaps an increase in police and security might help alleviate some students' fears and improve safety.
"I know that there are dangers on the streets around here, but it's never seemed like a scary or dangerous place to me," said Arnold Rosoff, a faculty master at Fisher Hassenfeld College House. "I feel safe. I don't know that there's much more the University could be doing. This is a city, and there are non-student people around, and they do things from time to time."
"I don't mean to minimize" the crimes, Rosoff added. "I feel pretty good about the University and the University's safety precautions."
