A Harvard-affiliated woman was sexually assaulted inside Byerly Hall early Tuesday evening, according to Harvard University police--just hours after hundreds of students rallied in the Yard advocating that the University adopt tougher policies against sexual violence.

The assault, which the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) is terming a "stranger rape," happened at 7:15 p.m., when the building was mostly empty.

Byerly Hall, which houses Harvard's Office of Admissions and Financial Aid, the Student Employment Office and the main offices of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, is located at 8 Garden St. in the northeast corner of Radcliffe Yard.

The victim informed police of the attack at 7:51 p.m., according to the HUPD blotter. Officers responded and searched the area, but did not find a suspect.

The victim told police her attacker was a white male around six feet tall, between 35 and 40 years old. He had "very short hair, a thin build, with a thin, acne-scarred face [and was] wearing a beige shirt and shoes," according to an HUPD statement.

Police officials declined to release any additional information.

"We're walking a fine line between the public safety issue, but the utmost respect is for the victim," said Detective Sergeant Richard Mederos, chief of HUPD's criminal investigation division.

Sources told The Crimson that the victim was not a Harvard student and

Radcliffe Yard is well-lit after dark, andthere is a security guard patrolling the groundsafter 4 p.m., police sources said. There is anemergency call box on the south side of ByerlyHall.

Police would not say where in the building theassault took place.

Employees in Byerly Hall said yesterday thatthey had been notified about the attack yesterdaymorning by an HUPD officer, who went door-to-doorinforming them of the situation.

According to Joe Wrinn, director of the HarvardNews Office, police officials held a meeting inByerly Hall yesterday to discuss securityconcerns.

Spokespeople for Marlyn McGrath Lewis '70-'73and William R. Fitzsimmons '67, the two topadmissions office officials, declined to commenton the incident.

Abigail H. Zoba '00, a counselor with Harvard'sPeer Relations and Date Rape Education (PRDRE),said she was "shocked" to learn of the incident.

"As a highly conscious woman, I always feelsome degree of anxiety over being alone at night,"said Zoba, who is also a Crimson editor. "At thesame time, I feel Harvard tries to do a good job."

Five sexual assaults were reported to Harvardpolice last year, all allegedly committed byacquaintances of the victims, according to HUPDspokesperson Peggy A. McNamara.

The dismissal of one undergraduate convicted ofindecent assault and battery, D. Drew Douglas,Class of 2000, was approved Tuesday night by avote of the full Faculty. A large student protestin favor of Douglas' dismissal and greaterservices for rape victims on campus ended justhours before this attack.

The last time a Harvard-affiliated person wasthe victim of a reported stranger rape on campuswas in March 1996, when a student was assaulted inAdams House.

That crime has not yet been solved.

Since 1995, Harvard has investigated six formalreports of rape--where the victim pressescharges--and seven reports of confidential rape,where the alleged victim does not want to proceedin court, according to McNamara.

Statistics from the Cambridge Police Department(CPD) show that 25 people reported they had beenraped in 1998 in the city. Only one of thoseincidents is classified as a "stranger" rape.

Nationally, about 20 percent of reported rapesare committed by suspects unknown to the victims,according to Susan Vickers, a legal coordinatorfor the Boston-area Rape Crisis Center