Two men robbed College freshman Rob Hitschler at around 2:15 a.m. Monday morning on 37th Street between Spruce and Locust streets.
Walking home alone to Hill College House from a friend's room, Hitschler was approached by two men who were walking in the opposite direction on 37th Street.
Hitschler did not report the incident to the police, figuring there was no way to catch the men at that point.
One of the men began calling to him from about 40 feet away, asking for money. Hitschler said the man seemed disoriented, stumbling slightly and speaking incoherently.
After Hitschler refused to give the men any money, they approached him, and one pushed him from the side. Hitschler said he noticed that the man's hand was in his pocket, but Hitschler did not indicate that a weapon had been used or that either of the men threatened to use one.
The other man demanded money from Hitschler, saying, "Give me your wallet," Hitschler said.
He responded to the man, saying, "Can I just give you the money, because I have a lot of IDs and stuff that I need?"
Hitschler then pulled the money he had -- about $30 -- out of his wallet and held the money in one hand and the wallet in the other.
The man who had spoken to Hitschler grabbed the money and ran west on Spruce Street.
Hitschler ran back to his room in Hill.
Hitschler said both men were black. One was between about 6'2" and 6'4", he said, and the other was about 5'10".
Hitschler said there was no one around at the time he was mugged, but that he saw some people on Locust Walk while he was running back to Hill. He did not see any police or security guards.
Hitschler had "walked that late before" and said he "never really expected anything like this."
However, he said that before he was attacked he "didn't feel safe" while he was walking and said he was "hustling home."
He added that he "definitely would not go out that late on a Sunday night" again.
Despite a string of crimes on Penn's campus in these first few weeks of school, Legal Studies Professor and Stouffer College House Master Philip Nichols does not think that the Penn community should be especially alarmed.
"We could have an armed guard standing at every 20 feet, and there would still be crime," he said.
"But there's less crime here than in other heavily urbanized places."
"I honestly do think that given the tremendous number of people that are in this area and the relatively few crimes that are reported, Public Safety is doing a very good job," Nichols added.
He advised students to "listen to what the experts are telling you, and be smart -- not afraid, but smart."
