Point Park University Chief of Police Jeffrey Besong sent out an email to all students Nov. 14 in response to an increased number of reported incidents of harassments on campus since Nov. 8, the night of the general election.

In the email, Chief Besong wrote, “There has been an increase in the number of incidents related to harassment occurring on the streets within the Point Park campus over the past 6 days.”

The window of six days pointed out by Besong alludes that the increase had occurred since the night of the election.

Besong stated in an email to the Globe that the Police Department received four calls for harassment incidents since the election, but also reported that there were “several” cases reported to the university’s Title IX. The police were not called for those incidents.

Point Park resident educator Tori Lemon said that none of the students on her floor have been harassed, though she has sensed uneasiness among them.

“They’re all visibly upset at the result of the election, even though they haven’t been hurt personally,” Lemon, a sophomore stage management major, said.

The email follows reports, primarily spread through social media, of women, minorities and the LGBT community experiencing a spike in harassments, assaults and other hate crimes. A popular Twitter collection titled “Day 1 in Trump’s America” congregated dozens of tweeted testimonies charging discrimination at the hands of alleged Trump supporters in the week after the election.

One of the social media posts in the collection concerned an incident at Wood Street Station in downtown Pittsburgh. According to the Facebook post, a group of Caucasian men sexually harassed a woman in the station and attempted to assault her before a crowd intervened. In the post, it was reported that one of the men yelled “Grab her by the p***y,” a phrase uttered by Trump in released footage.

Many of the harassment cases that Point Park students encountered occurred during the day and at bus stops, according to Besong.

“Several of our students were harassed with ‘cat calls’ from non-students,” Besong said.

Duquesne University, another downtown college campus, said in an email that it has not seen an increased number of reported harassments since the election. Pittsburgh’s Department of Public Safety also told The Globe in an email that the city has not seen an increase in reported cases of harassment, but did say that there have been two cases of graffiti using Trump’s name.

Though the city denied that it has seen an increase in incidents of harassments, Point Park’s Her Campus president and junior student Casey McGaw said that harassment has become an unwelcome aspect of daily life for women, especially in downtown Pittsburgh.

“It happens a lot,” McGaw said. “I’ve started changing my route just so I don’t have to walk by this group of construction workers. I don’t ever go to Wood Street; it’s a lot seedier than other stops.”

McGaw points to Point Park’s location in downtown Pittsburgh as a possible explanation for the increased reports of harassment since Election Day, though she points to the election of Trump as at least partially responsible for the uptick in harassments and assaults on and off campus.

“Racism and sexism have always existed, but now these people came out of the closet,” McGaw said. “What he personally says about Muslims – everything in his personal political environment – I think it makes these people who have these underlying thoughts think, ‘This guy is president, it’s OK.’”

The university’s administration and faculty have both addressed the issue concerning students’ safety in the weeks following the election.

Faculty Assembly President Matt Pascal sent an open letter to full-time faculty members to collect signatures on a petition asking the school to address the safety and security of university students on Nov. 15.

“Given the change in atmosphere in the country and the potential changes in policy, we plead with the university’s administration to reinforce a firm no-tolerance stance against hatred, violence, and bigotry of any form,” read part of the letter.

Point Park President Paul Hennigan responded to the letter in an email to the entire student body just two days later.

“Before and after the election, Point Park University has ensured that all students, regardless of race, gender, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity, physical ability, and political affiliation have equal access to education and safety,” Hennigan wrote. At the end of the letter, Hennigan also stated “Hateful speech and aggression toward one another will not be tolerated on our campus.”

Several university leaders thought that the university’s response to the letter, as well as the initial letter itself, was an important step is ensuring students’ safety.

“I think that letter was great; it sort of expressed how we’ve all felt,” McGaw said.

Lemon said that the increased number of harassment cases were most likely due, in some part, to the election results, though she hopes the university can avoid taking political stances.

“I personally think that the university should stay out of politics altogether and make sure students stay safe and have a good learning environment,” Lemon said.

Both McGaw and Lemon offered suggestions on different policies the university could employ to ensure the safety of its students, both on and off campus.

“If there was an increased police presence between the University Center and Lawrence Hall, I think we would see less crime,” Lemon offered.

But McGaw believes that the university should do what it can to expand Point Park’s safety net to areas beyond campus, including expanding the police escort services to areas commonly visited by students, such as the parking lot at Station Square.

Point Park Police have increased their presence at the bus stops on campus since they noticed the uptick in harassment incidents, but the university can’t supply an expanded police presence off of campus, according to Besong.

“Unfortunately, we do not have the manpower to do escorts off campus,” Besong said.

Still, McGaw said that only so much can be done to combat the problem of harassment aimed against women and minorities, a offense that she alleges is pervasive in society.

“The university can address these problems—personal defense, training people on what to do if you see someone get harassed, educating people,” McGaw said. “It feels helpless sometimes, but it starts with making people aware of what’s going on.”