University of Michigan freshmen moving into residence halls on central campus, where a spate of attacks against women over the summer has gripped the city's attention, have mixed feelings about their safety on and off campus.

Since July, there have been eight attacks on women that have occurred on or near central campus. Police believe six of those attacks are related. Two were rapes.

All eight attacks remain unsolved.

For students coming to college for the first time, the attacks bring an unwelcome sense of nervousness.

“It adds extra weight to being a new student because you don’t want to go anywhere alone, even in the day,” said Stevie Vance, who moved into the South Quadrangle residence hall this week.

“This morning, while it was still a little dark, I wanted to go running alone, which is normal, but because the attacks happened I had to refrain,” Vance added.

Freshman and Ann Arbor native Meghan Thompson, who also lives in South Quadrangle, said the attacks were out of sync with what she normally considers a safe city.

“It feels weird, having grown up here and having always felt very safe,” Thompson said. “It’s almost like my little bubble has burst.”

South Quadrangle resident Nirah Shah feels differently.

"Since school is starting and there’s going to be lots of students walking around a lot, I wont feel alone as much,” the freshman said. “I’m not that concerned about it.”

In the wake of the attacks, the university and Ann Arbor police are teaming up to stress safety on and off campus as students return.

University officials and student volunteers will be visiting off-campus housing areas, welcoming student residents and giving out information on how to keep safe now that they’re back at school.

Officials say the new door-to-door effort, dubbed Beyond the Diag, will be a yearly occurrence.

Ann Arbor police have also gone to houses in the area, making residents aware of the situation regarding the sexual assaults and distributing the composite sketches of the suspected rapist, or rapists.

Additionally, the U-M Department of Public Safety has increased its presence and the amount of patrols on and around campus since the attacks.

“We’ve made many adjustments to get more uniforms out there, particularly in the hours between 10 p.m. and the early morning hours,” said department spokesperson Diane Brown. Brown said the department is supplementing university housing security officers during the move-in period, which began Wednesday.

Freshman Joy Lene said she planned on being extra cautious when walking around at night.

“It doesn’t make me feel that great, but I came here to go to school, so I’ll do whatever I need to be safe,” said Lene, who moved into South Quadrangle this week.

East Quadrangle resident Mariana Yamamoto said she plans to take full advantage of the safety offerings from the university.

“The university offers so many different services, like people walking you back home at night and free taxi rides,” she said. “In any situation, you have a number you can call.”

Lene said crime, including sexual assaults and rapes, are not uncommon in cities.

“Anything that happens in a normal city applies here,” she said. “I grew up next to Detroit, so I’m used to this.”

Freshman Audrey Chitkara agreed.

“Something like that can happen anywhere, but it is scary to know that it happened so close to you.”

Reporter Kyle Feldscher contributed to this report.

Kellie Woodhouse covers higher education for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at kelliewoodhouse@annarbor.com or 734-623-4602.