An NIU student reported Friday the first on-campus incident this semester of an unprovoked attack involving black assailants and a white victim to the University Police.

DeKalb Police investigated eight reports of similar attacks that happened off-campus between October 1991 and Jan. 19.

“It’s possible that this incident could fit the pattern of other incidents that have occurred in the community,” UP Sgt. Ralph Taylor said Monday.

A 19-year-old man who is a resident of Stevenson Towers told the UPs he was beaten by three black men while he was walking home from Founder’s Memorial Library at around 1 a.m., Taylor said.

As the man walked on the sidewalk between Cole and Neptune Halls near the creek, he saw three men walking in the opposite direction toward him, Taylor said.

The three black men had black hair and dark eyes, he said. They wore black pants and black parka-style winter coats, he said. He described them as college-age men about 6 feet tall and of a medium build. One man wore a maroon cap emblazoned with a circular logo and tilted down over his face, Taylor said.

The man with the maroon cap walked up to the victim and asked him, “Do you know who I am?” The victim replied, “No, it’s cool, it’s cool.”

The man in the maroon cap asked “What’s cool?” and began to hit the victim in the face, Taylor said.

The victim said he fell down and the two other men kicked him in the back at least twice. The three men then ran away toward Neptune Hall, Taylor said.

The victim’s lower lip was split, and he had red marks on his back, Taylor said.

The UPs searched the area and questioned door guards at Neptune and Gilbert Halls, Taylor said. No one had seen any men matching the description the victim gave.

As in seven of the eight attacks reported to DeKalb Police, the victim and the attackers did not exchange racial slurs, Taylor said.

The UPs probably will not be able to investigate the incident further because the victim said he could not identify his attackers, Taylor said.