Officials at UW-Oshkosh warning students after two attempted assaults

OSHKOSH (WITI) -- The school year is just beginning at UW-Oshkosh, and police are already warning students about safety. This, after two reports of attempted assaults near campus, both reportedly taking place in the early morning darkness.

Oshkosh police say a man followed a nineteen year old woman as she walked to her Woodland Avenue home early Monday morning.

"She made it to her residence. The male actually came up and grabbed her. She was able to fight her away from him, physically pushing him away, and was able to get back into her residence," Joe Nichols with the Oshkosh Police Department said.

Police say early Tuesday morning, September 3rd, a 20-year old woman was followed home near the college neighborhood on Jackson Street.

"He attempted to grab her, but could not physically put his hands on her. He noticed that she had already called 911," Nichols said.

Police say witnesses describe the suspect as a black man in his 20s. He was wearing khaki shorts, a light-colored shirt and a baseball cap.

Police say no one was injured. Officers say the two incidents are related.

"Both the victims' information sounded like it was the same person," Nichols said.

UW-Oshkosh is set to welcome back more than 13,000 students for the upcoming year. That starts on Wednesday, September 4th. When it comes to security, the campus police chief says there are ways students can help themselves.

"Walk in groups, especially at night time. Utilizing our blue light phones, our safety phones here on campus, to contact the police department if you have something to report. And utilize our Safe-Walk Program," Oshkosh Police Chief Joseph LeMire said.

LeMire says campus officers are on pace to provide 600 escorts this year to students in a five-block radius of campus.

"I don't walk around at night very much. If I do, I usually go with somebody," UW-Oshkosh junior Sally Corbett said.

"It's safer that way, to walk in a group. Someone's not going to be, it's not as easy to approach someone if they're with other people," UW-Oshkosh Senior Becky Rueckl said.

Campus police have confirmed only one of the women involved in the attempted assaults is a UW-Oshkosh student.