Administrators said they are taking steps to increase security and heighten awareness among students this week, as new information emerged about the assault of a female student last Saturday and officials continued to caution of a recent increase in area robberies.

Campus safety personnel and representatives from the etropolitan Police Department organized a town hall meeting in the Leavey Center Tuesday, where they warned students living off campus to take practical steps to protect themselves.

Officials said this week that the person responsible for an assault last weekend in an unlocked townhouse on the 1600 block of 35th Street was likely involved in several similar incidents over the past two years.

The victim of the crime, a freshman who asked not to be identified, said that she was asleep in a chair in the house’s living room, in which five other people were also sleeping, when the suspect entered. She said that he probably entered the house through an open window or was already there when they arrived, and that he came in and began to circle around the sleeping students.

“When I couldn’t hear his footsteps I knew he was on the carpet where we were sleeping,” the student said. “I thought he was just going to steal things. . I didn’t scream because I thought he had a weapon.”

The student spoke at the Tuesday town hall meeting, warning students to be more careful off campus.

“I don’t want people to think just because the door is locked, I’m safe, because that’s what I thought,” she said. “People need to make sure that all windows and all doors are locked, not just the front door.”

David Morrell, vice president for university safety, said during the meeting that the suspect probably waits outside parties until they end, then follows female students to their homes.

The suspect was described as a Hispanic male, 5’9″ tall, with medium-length dark hair, a stocky build and broad face. He was wearing a dark jacket and boots at the time of the assault, officials said.

MPD Lieutenant Felicia Lucas said that drunkenness could have implications for safety, citing alcohol as a factor in most of the recent assaults and robberies near campus.

Getting drunk “makes you a victim waiting to happen,” she said. “It doesn’t make you responsible for their actions, but it does make you susceptible to them.”

Lucas stressed that the high number of student arrests in Georgetown for violations such as having an open container of alcohol in public makes it more difficult for MPD to respond to serious problems.

“My officers are here and, to be quite honest, they’re babysitting,” she said.

A string of violent robberies has also prompted concern among students and residents in the past two weeks. In one incident, a man placed a gun to a female student’s head while he robbed her on 33rd Street.

Darryl Harrison, director of the Department of Public Safety, said during the town hall meeting that although the crime rate on and around campus has not increased, the nature of the crimes has changed.

“There have not been any more robberies or assaults than this time last year,” he said. “The difference is that the last three or four have involved weapons.”

Students spent much of the meeting criticizing the university’s Safe Rides program, which transports students home when they are off campus at night.

Kathleen McIntosh (NHS ’06), who lives on Prospect Street, said she had problems getting a Safe Rides van to transport her from Burleith to Prospect Street at 11 p.m. last Saturday.

“I waited 45 minutes for the van and then walked across campus,” McIntosh said. “I called again at front gates and no one ever came, so I just walked home.”

Other students said that Safe Rides is unreliable because the service does not give students an estimated time of pick up, does not always answer the phone and occasionally does not arrive.

The administrators said that Safe Rides has been operating as best it can considering limited resources, but suggested that the program could be expanded in the future.

Jeanne Lord, associate vice president for student affairs, told students that administrators took their concerns seriously and would consider them in future security policy decisions.

Some students said that ensuring student safety off campus is not necessarily the university’s responsibility, however.

“I know some people didn’t want to, but if you do live off campus it’s your responsibility to make sure your door is locked and your roommates are OK,” McIntosh said. “We’re old enough to take care of ourselves. [The] most they can do for me is providing Safe Rides.”