An NIU student was sexually abused early Wednesday morning after she got out of her bed to tell some people in the hall to be quiet.

The unidentifed woman was sleeping alone in her Grant Towers residence hall room when she heard some noise in the hallway, UP Lt. Curt Underwood said.

When she opened the door, she saw two drunk men goofing around in the hallway, Underwoood said. “She told them to keep the noise down, and they basically told her ‘who cares,'” he said.

The incident quickly escalated. One of the men slapped her, and the two men then forced her back into her room, Underwood said.

While inside the room, one man sexually touched the woman while the other man stood there, he said.

The men suddenly panicked and left, Underwood said. The entire incident lasted five minutes or less, he said.

The men did not remove the woman’s clothes, and she was not physically hurt, Underwood said.

Sexual abuse is a class A misdemeanor described as “unwanted sexual touching and fondling,” UP Lt. Kathy Guimond said. The crime is punishable with up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine, she said.

The UPs are investigating the incident. The attackers were “either someone who lived in Grant Towers at one time or knew someone there. They knew their way around the residence hall,” Underwood said.

He speculated that the attackers were visiting someone in the residence hall because the door guards did not notice anything unusual that night.

The man who committed most of the sexual abuse is described as a white male, 21 to 25 years old, 5 feet 8 inches to 5 feet 9 inches tall, Underwood said. He was thin, broad-shouldered and had short, crew-cut hair that was parted in the center, he said. He wore blue jeans, dirty white tennis shoes and a brown leather waist-length jacket, Underwood said.

The other attacker is described as a black male who is about the same age as the other attacker, he said. He was about 6 feet tall and had a stocky build, Underwood said. He was dressed in black and wore black gloves and a black thigh-length jacket, he said.

The men face charges of unlawful restraint, battery, criminal trespass to residence and sexual abuse, Underwood said.

Anyone who has any information about the incident should call Underwood at 753-9626.