Emily Farella ’12 was studying in the Africana Library Monday when the two policemen came in around 10:30 p.m., looked around and walked out without saying a word. About 10 minutes later, the policemen returned and continued looking around without addressing the students. At that point, the librarians told Farella that someone had been stabbed and that the library was closing early.

When Farella and two other girls left the library together, there were still multiple police cars outside.

“I think that the police should have let us know,” Farella said. “They saw that we were three girls. It was clear that we were walking.”

The incident on Monday — in which Marc Jackson ’10 was stabbed and robbed by two black males who are still currently at large — raised questions on the effectiveness of the official channels to notify students of potential dangers.

Shortly after news broke that a student had been stabbed, Cornellians relayed the news to each other via text messages and e-mails. Upon student inquiries, police officials investigating on North Campus replied that “a laptop robbery” had occurred, but made no mention of the student’s injury. Samuel Ramsey ’11 and Micah Freedman ’13 told The Sun Monday night that they also came into contact with police officers at the Ecology House who did not elaborate on the situation.

According to Sergeant James Steinmetz of the Cayuga Heights Police Department, there are no set protocols or policies on what police officers can tell students while on the scene investigating a crime.

Some students have also questioned why the University did not utilize its Emergency Notification Systems, which include SMS text message safety updates, public announcements and emails. Deputy University spokesperson Simeon Moss ’73 said that the systems would only be used in situations during an obvious, imminent danger, such as a shooter or gas leak.

“The robbery that occurred wasn’t deemed to be a high level emergency,” Moss said. The first recommendations to issue such an alert would come from the police, he added.

The University informed the community about the incident about three hours later, when a University-wide Crime Alert was sent out via e-mail.

Sarah Salky ’11 was walking in Collegetown when she ran into friends who told her about what had happened. Salky said that girls in her sorority house on North Campus were very concerned and sent out mass texts that asked their friends not to walk home alone.

While Salky said she feels the Crime Alerts are effective, she added that timelier communication is important in these types of situations.

“Because there were two people at large, maybe it was a situation that warranted using the emergency alert on your cell phone to make sure that students who might have been walking around on campus were extra careful that night, walked in groups and knew what was going on immediately,” Salky said.

Yvonne Robles ’12 also said that students should have been informed of the incident as soon as it happened.

“The e-mail came out three hours after it happened. It might have been nice to hear something as soon as the policemen found something out,” Robles said. “Everyone was really afraid to walk home that night.”

However, Ilya Brotzky ’10 said that the University cannot do much more than send out a Crime Alert in these situations.

“I thought the communication was pretty good. It was sent out relatively quickly,” Brotzky said.

Farella said that the Crime Alert “downplayed” the situation by referring to Monday night’s incident as a robbery, during which, “the victim received a small puncture wound in his stomach,” as the e-mail stated.

“I thought their choice of phrasing doesn’t evoke the right sentiment, especially on a college campus where people are walking home at night alone all the time,” Farella said.

Salky also said that while she realizes the University did not want to cause panic, the gravity of the situation did not always come through the Crime Alerts.

Moss said that he spoke with the Cayuga Heights Police Department and other authorities that did not refer to the incident as a stabbing. On the other hand, Sergeant Steinmetz said the incident could be considered both a robbery and a stabbing, although he was unsure about details about Jackson’s injury.

According to Elizabeth Heath, public relations specialist at Cayuga Medical Center, Jackson was treated and released on Tuesday.

After being assaulted in the wooded area between the 300 block of Triphammer Road and the 300 block of Highland Road, Jackson returned to his residence and called the police. The Cayuga Heights Police Department, Cornell University Police and the Ithaca Police Department responded to the incident. The attack occurred in Cayuga Heights Police Department’s jurisdiction.

The suspects are described as two black males of medium height and weight, wearing grey sweatshirts and blue jeans. As of Thursday, they are still at large and no additional information is available, according to Sergeant Steinmetz.

According to Moss, as of this week, 43 percent of students and 46 percent of staff have registered their emergency notification information. Students can sign up for the Emergency Mass Notification on their student center web page.