A Northwestern student was robbed of her cell phone Sunday evening near the Lorraine H. Morton Civic Center, according to a University security alert.

At about 7 p.m., two or three men approached the student while she was walking in an alley behind her apartment building in the 2100 block of Ridge Avenue, Evanston Police Cmdr. Jay Parrott said. One of the men grabbed the student’s neck from behind and told her not to yell, then demanded her iPhone, which she handed over.

The student was not hurt, according to the security alert. The men never showed a weapon.

The security alert said someone jogging on Ridge Avenue heard the student scream, spotted the men and alerted authorities.

The men were last seen running through yards in the 1200 block of Leon Place, Parrott said.

Evanston and University police searched for the men but could not find them. Parrott said the man who took the student’s iPhone was described as a black man who is 20 to 29 years old and about 5 foot 10 or 5 foot 11 with a heavy build.

The incident happened about a half mile from NU’s campus. The civic center is at 2100 Ridge Ave.

— Patrick Svitek