Following the Sunday mugging of a student near Crown Street and a barrage of e-mail messages about more muggings, the Yale Police Department will hold a meeting Thursday to assuage students’ concerns.

The meeting will take place at 8 p.m. at the Asian American Cultural Center on 295 Crown St.

Members of Yale’s Asian-American community have been on edge following several e-mail messages sent to the mailing lists of various ethnic organizations.

The first e-mail was sent to the mailing lists of the Asian American Students Alliance, the Chinese American Students’ Association, Korean American Students of Yale and other ethnic groups on Sunday. In the e-mail, organization leaders said 20 muggings, many targeting Asian-American women, had ocrrured within a five block radius of the Asian American Cultural Center.

The e-mail quickly spread throughout Yale’s ethnic communities.

On Monday, leaders forwarded a new e-mail message to many members of the Asian community, correcting some of the information in the first message.

“It appears that the nearly 20 incidents reported in the area are not related to the most recent incident,” the second e-mail stated.

On Tuesday afternoon, Saveena Dhall, Yale College assistant dean and director of the Asian American Cultural Center, sent a third e-mail to students to correct the earlier messages. In the e-mail, Dhall stated that there had only been eight muggings in the past month, six of which were attributed to a “bicycle purse snatcher,” who was later apprehended.

“The [first] e-mail was sent out with the purpose of most harmless intent,” Dhall said Tuesday.

Julia Gonzales ’05 said that Rosalinda Garcia, Yale College assistant dean and director of La Casa Cultural, sent a similar e-mail to students on Tuesday night.

Dhall met on Tuesday with Garcia and Dean of Student Affairs Betty Trachtenberg. She also met with Yale Police Administrative Lieutenant Michael Patten.

Members of the organizations that have offices on Crown Street said the e-mails made them more aware of safety concerns.

Gonzales, a student worker at La Casa Cultural, said that she often leaves work at 11 p.m. and walks home alone. Gonzales said she now calls the minibus service to get home after dark.

Vy Vu ’06, who works at the Asian American Cultural Center, said the first e-mail made her anxious but remained undeterred.

In an effort to educate students about proper safety precautions and address student concerns, Dhall said there will be a meeting on Thursday evening with Susan Landino, security education coordinator and police officer for the Yale Police.

“Students are concerned, and it’s important to take timely action,” Dhall said.