Stacey Bronstein has had the hell beaten out of her.

Twice.

Those two horrific experiences helped Bronstein (senior-history), a Brumbaugh Hall resident assistant, know what to do when her residents began to express concerns about the recent wave of on-campus assaults.

She organized a "rap session" last Thursday with University Police Services so women in her dorm could learn how not to be the next victims.

Rap sessions are small, informal, frank discussions where students meet with University police to say whatever is on their minds. At the same time, officers can tell students how to best protect themselves.

Three on-campus aggravated assaults coupled with an unusually high number of simple assaults within the past three weeks have sharply increased the demand for rap sessions.

"We normally don't get too many of these at all unless something happens," said University Police Officer Don Reed, who coordinates the meetings. The department received six requests from RAs for rap sessions since the series of assaults began.

"It wakes people up to say, 'Maybe we should be listening more to what's going on,' " Reed said.

And for the four freshman women who sat attentively -- and often wide-eyed -- in the Brumbaugh lounge at last week's rap session, there was plenty to hear.

They heard Matthew Wilson, a University police cadet, warn them about the dangers he has witnessed repeatedly on the deceptively unsafe Penn State campus.

"I'm amazed that I haven't heard about more assaults late at night," he said. "I have seen some nasty fights."

"I have seen groups of guys just beat the hell out of a guy or girl," he said. "When it happens, it happens real quick."

The Brumbaugh residents also heard stern words from Officer Linda Dorman.

"Our big concern is that everybody is saying, 'This is Happy Valley,' " she said. According to Dorman, Happy Valley can actually be a dangerous ravine for students -- especially women -- who don't take their personal security seriously.

And the residents even heard some personal accounts from Bronstein as she spoke about the time her roommate's boyfriend attacked her and the time she was violently thrown against a shower stall's walls by a male trespasser in a North Halls women's bathroom.

"It's very important that you guys look out for each other," she told her residents at the rap session, adding, "I was a very trusting person."

Lynn Bierly (freshman-business), who asked Bronstein to set up the rap session after reading about the recent on-campus assaults, said the forum is an important step in the battle to stop the violence.

"Being aware of it is one thing, and you have to go beyond that," she said.

She and her friends asked a variety of questions during the 90-minute discussion.

Bierly wanted to know if Mace was legal to carry. When Dorman told her it was, Bierly announced, "If anybody comes up behind me after dark, I feel sorry for them."

Some complained about unescorted men in their dorm, while others wanted to know if they could trust University Escort Service volunteers.

But after Dorman and Wilson casually packed up their safety brochures and left the dorm, Bronstein still knew that a rap session couldn't solve everything.

"It seems for every person that gets something out of it, there's always a large number that don't. It's always going to happen again," she said. "And that's what always gets me."