A pair of unrelated incidents in Burnaby at the city’s SFU and BCIT campuses has students on alert.

On Friday evening (July 12), a man riding a bicycle engaged in the “inappropriate touching” of a member of the BCIT community, reads a July 15 email the administration sent out.

The incident occurred at BCIT’s track-and-field area around 6 p.m.

"We are investigating this incident, including a review of video footage and have offered support to the BCIT community member involved," Glen Magel, director of security for BCIT, wrote there.

"While such incidents are rare at BCIT, we are committed to ensuring ongoing campus safety,” it continues. “We take these incidents very seriously and would like to remind all members of the BCIT community to be aware of safety and security, and to report any incidents that you feel violate your personal safety."

The same weekend, on July 14, a 19-year-old woman was walking along a trail on SFU’s Burnaby campus when she said a South Asian man followed her, attempted to start a conversation, and grabbed her hand. The encounter was disconcerting enough to prompt the woman to run to a nearby parking lot and ask bystanders there for help.

The RCMP were notified and are investigating the matter.