Port Elizabeth - Students from Nelson Mandela University on Tuesday, vowed to maintain the shutdown on campus if management does not meet their immediate demands by Wednesday.
This comes after an horrific attack which took place at the the university's Second Avenue Campus on Monday night.
A 25-year-old student and her friend were studying in the computer labs when the alleged incident took place. A man allegedly raped one of the students and stabbed the other with a scissors, police said.
Addressing hundreds of students who gathered at the South Campus Kraal in protest, South African Students Congress (SASCO) chairperson, Yandisa Jubase said that students were demanding intensified security at all of the university's campuses.
NMU students at the Kraal protesting following the alleged rape and robbery of two students at the university's Second Avenue Campus on Monday night.
Video: ANA
"By the end of tonight [Tuesday] there must be security and police at all campuses. At test venues and study areas we want security. They [management] must issue a statement on the rape case no later than tomorrow morning [Wednesday]," said Jubase.
She said that students had become despondent in reporting rape and sexual assault cases because the university never reported back on these incidents.
"When it comes to reporting rape cases at campus you have to fill out 1,000 forms, they are antagonising us," she said.
Other demands included a 'green safety route' to be established and adequate clinic services after hours.
Students claimed that emergency numbers provided by the university did not function.
Jubase also called for shuttle services to drop students off closer to their residences and called for NMU to be a closed institution.
"We want everyone to have access cards, people can't just come and go as they please."
Angry students blasted university management, saying that they felt undermined.
In addition they demanded that NMU's head of security, Derek Heubsch, step down with immediate effect because of his "incompetence".
It emerged on Tuesday, that the first respondent to the attack was NMU employee, Gratian Hewitt, who drove a distance after hearing about a desperate plea for help on Facebook. Hewitt said that when he arrived at the campus, multiple security guards were clueless as to what had transpired.
Students complained that NMU had recently spent millions on re-branding its name with the slogan "Change The World" -- however, the level of security at campuses were at an all time low.
Acting Vice Chancellor, Dr Sibongile Muthwa, told students that management would respond to their demands for beefed up security at campuses.
"That is not an unreasonable demand. I would not want you to be raped and feel fearful at campus. Security will be boosted up until the end of the year and then when students come back long term arrangements will be put in place," Muthwa said.
On the university becoming a closed campus, Muthwa, said students would need to work with management on the definition of what a closed campus is. Muthwa said that security at test venues would be beefed up with immediate effect.
"There is a lot of crime in [Port Elizabeth] PE, I can identify with fear. We must look at where shuttle services drop off students," Muthwa said.
"The fact that a student was raped, is not in doubt that is not alleged. We are clear that the students were violated."
Muthwa gave an undertaking she would look into the claim that NMU's emergency line was not working, adding she would give feedback on the issue within the next two days.
Jubase said that the university would remain closed up until their immediate demands were met.