At about 2 a.m. Sunday morning, junior Sam Girten had just walked his girlfriend home.
He was within a block of the house he was heading toward when two men approached him.
"They seemed friendly at first. ... They asked me if I had been drinking," Girten said. "Right when I said yes, the kid just cocked back and punched me in the face."
Girten said he backed away and the attackers, without saying anything, hit him several more times. Eventually, he stumbled into someone's backyard.
"They ended up leaving and I was on my hands and knees thinking, ‘What the f--k just happened,'" Girten said.
Girten said he got up and walked to a friend's house, hailing down a passing police car. He told police what happened, but said he wasn't able to give a good description of the attackers because it was dark and both men were black. All he knows is that they are both a little taller than him.
"They're probably not going to find them," Girten said. "I wouldn't even be able to pick them out of a line-up."
A representative of the University Police Department couldn't be reached for comment, but Girten said he is happy with the way UPD is handling his attack and it has taught him never to walk alone at night.
Joan Todd, Ball State's executive director of public relations, said the university does everything it can to make students aware of safety issues and encourage them to take appropriate precautions.
"These kinds of attacks are rare, but students do need to take responsibility for their own safety and understand the world we live in," Todd said. "University patrols do go out beyond the immediate campus and into student neighborhoods, and we try to give students as much information as possible. ... It's a dangerous world."
Anita Girten, Sam's mother, said she found out about her son's attack in a text message from a friend.
"The really scary part about it is they didn't even take his wallet; they didn't take his phone," Anita said. "They were just out to do great damage, and I don't think it would have mattered who it was."
Sam, a marketing major, said he's typically a pretty trusting person. When the men approached him, he said he had no idea that they would do what they did.
"I just couldn't believe that someone would try and beat up someone they had never seen before," he said. "I don't know what they got out of it."
He called his attack "a random act of violence" and said he's haunted by the thought of what might have happened if the men hadn't decided to leave.
"I'm sure I'll get over it, I'm just pretty bitter. ... I don't know what I did to deserve this," Sam said. "I still trust people and stuff; it's just two people came up to me and tried to hurt me. I couldn't do anything about it.
"What would I have done different? It's not like I wouldn't have walked my girlfriend home, because I wouldn't have changed that. Because what if something had happened to her? That would have been way worse."
Anita said she thanks God that she raised a son who would be responsible for others. She said if she could say anything to his attackers, she would ask their motives.
"Why would you do this? What's wrong with you? Do you have something deep-seeded going on?" Anita said. "They didn't even know him. If you know Sam — and I know I'm his mother — but if you knew Sam you wouldn't want to hurt him. He's a good, good kid."
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