More than 12,500 people signed up attend to a Facebook "event" recognizing the one-year anniversary of the butt-slapping case.
Nicole Szoko, one of the women that was groped in the incident on April 7, 2010, said she doesn't mind the humor of the "Ball State Ass Slapper" page.
"People are trying to make fun of the university, how they dealt with the situation, and at times, it looks like those people at Ball State are literally attacking me, but I know it's not the case," she said. "It's more of them making fun of the situation."
"National Slap-Ass Day" on Facebook attempts to take a humorous look at the incidents last year in which two women said a man on a bicycle grabbed their buttocks in separate incidents as they walked to class in the morning.
"I had stopped because I was so shocked and I asked him, ‘What the heck?' and he smiled at me and flipped me off," Szoko said.
Some people snickered at the incident when the university issued an emergency email notification. The story picked up traction in news reports and blogs across the state and later across the country.
An equally loud reaction came from women who said groping of any kind isn't something to laugh about.
Four women stood with signs at the Scramble Light two days after the university issued the emergency notification, demanding the case to be taken seriously.
Two signs said "Mocking victims causes serious assaults to go unreported" and "Ass slapping is assault."
"I stopped to talk with them and said thank you and introduced myself," Szoko said. "They were really nice."
However, a year later, the jokes have returned.
The Ball State Ass Slapper page administrator created the "National SlapAss Day" to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the incident, sending rules and a brief explanation.
"This is the legend of the Ball State Ass Slapper," the site said. "And this day remembers that legend of shenanigans."
Bob Fey, associate director of public safety, said there's still a lesson to be learned.
He said while the assault took place during the day, students and faculty need to make themselves aware of their surroundings.
"Perhaps you have seen people walking with their hoodie up, listening to their tunes, texting with perhaps very limited awareness of what's going on around them," he said. "That would be a target or a potential target."
The other victim of last year's assault declined to comment.
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