Residents living on the 1200 block of W. Marsh Street heard sounds of sirens and people yelling at around 3 a.m. on Sunday. One resident, junior creative writing major Christine Gyselinck, said she also saw flashlights being put in her windows.
The cause of the disturbance was an attack on a Ball State student.
An emergency email sent out by the university said the attack involved two assailants. One was described as "African American and approximately 6 feet tall with a slender build." The other was described as an African American male approximately 6 feet tall with a heavy build.
The email also stated the student was attacked without provocation and no weapons were reported at the scene.
Tony Proudfoot, associate vice president for Marketing and Communications, said the notifications are sent on a case-by-case basis.
"In this case we had a student who had an unprovoked attack by unknown assailants, and they're still at large," Proudfoot said. "It seemed like the perfect thing to do."
Proudfoot said he had no more details that weren't in the public safety notice.
Hana Geswein, a senior architecture major, said this is the only disturbance of any type that she thinks has been recognized on West Marsh Street.
"I would say, for sure, it's pretty safe for the most part," she said. "Especially because you see police officers writing tickets for cars all the time, even at night when there's parties and stuff going on."
Gyselinck, however, said she's not surprised by the attack.
"Actually, I got in a fight with somebody," she said. "These guys were treating my guy friends [poorly,] so I said something. This was right outside my house ... I feel like everybody just wants to fight lately."
Gyselinck's roommate, junior telecommunications major Danielle Hoyle, said it's surprising and agitating that this attack and many other incidents have occurred in recent weeks near Ball State's campus.
"I'm paying for a higher education, and they can't even keep our streets safe," she said.
Hoyle said more police patrol could be a solution to making Ball State and its surrounding areas safer.
"I've heard that [Ball State] got a new government grant on excise police, but they're only patrolling liquor stores," she said. "I think that's a little bogus because obviously none of this is happening at liquor stores. Why are you trying to get other students that are maybe buying liquor for minors instead of making sure our streets are safe so people can actually walk outside their damn house past 10 o'clock at night?"
As for living on West Marsh Street, Geswein said it's really not a scary place to live.
"I would encourage people to live here, and if you need the police officers, campus is right here," she said. "Like I said though, it's all about not making the silly decision so that you get yourself into somewhere where you're not safe."
Demetrius Lewis and Benjamin Dashley contributed to this story.
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