A woman was raped in a busy area of Central Square last Monday, prompting the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) to issue its first community-wide advisory of the school year.

According to the Cambridge Police Department (CPD), the victim was standing at the intersection of Mass. Ave. and Pearl Street around 3:45 p.m. when she was grabbed from behind by a stranger and taken into the hallway of an office building. She was then sexually assaulted.

The attacker did not use a weapon, police said.

HUPD drafted its advisory, issued as students left for Thanksgiving break on Wednesday, because the victim reported seeing her assailant in Harvard Square hours before her assault.

Police are searching for the suspect, who is described as a 21-year old black male, standing five-feet-five inches tall, weighing 160 pounds with a thin build.

At the time of the attack, he was wearing a gray sweatshirt with a white logo on front and white baggy pants, which the victim thinks might have been jeans.

He wore a nylon-type scarf on his head, covered by a white headband.

Because of the holiday weekend, neither the HUPD spokesperson, Peggy A. McNamara, nor the CPD spokesperson, Frank D. Pasquarello, could be reached for comment.