OSU Students On Alert After Attempted Sexual Assault On Campus

OSU students are on high alert after an attempted sexual assault early Friday morning.

They are taking a closer look at their surroundings as well as utilizing campus safety programs like the Orange Shield app and using personal protection.

Freshman Hayleigh Galvan said, "Whenever I have to walk somewhere alone at night, I have 911 dialed on my phone ready to go and I have mase on my keychain and I have that ready."

She is learning quickly that college is not all fun and games.

"I had an incident happen over the summer with the same, what happened to her," said Galvan.

Galvan lives in Bennett Hall, where another female student reported a man pushing her up against the wall as she walked outside around 2 a.m. Friday. The victim told police she kneed the man in the groin when he got distracted by a passing car and he ran away.

9/9/16 Related Story: OSU Issues Campus Warning As Police Search For Suspect In Attempted Sexual Assault

OSU does have a campus escort program for students who feel uncomfortable walking alone. Orange Shield also allows students to call 911, let friends know where they are and make reports from the app.

Freshman Shayna Byers said, "I like being able to hold down a button just in case if I don't answer in a certain amount of time they'll just automatically come here."

Not all students are taking advantage of the available programs, however. Senior Rebecca Willoughby has been at the university for four years and never heard about the app before now. "We need to have more discussions about campus safety," she said.

Until then, students like Willoughby are looking at OSU a little differently. She said, "It really made me think about how I've lived in Stillwater my whole life and I used to feel like this place was really safe."

The victim described the suspect as a thin white man between 5'8" and 6' tall. He was wearing a ski mask, black hoodie and blue jeans at the time of the attack. There are no surveillance cameras on Bennett Hall, but campus police are reviewing footage from nearby cameras to try to learn more.

Police encourage anyone with information about the attempted sexual assault to file a report on the Orange Shield app.