Watchful Eyes

The Truth About Stalking on Campus

By Mi Kayla Whitman

Sexual assault cases on college campuses across the nation are a hot topic. As a UNI student, I have been the recipient of emails alerting me of rapes, fondling incidents, and other sexual assaults on campus, and each time my stomach drops. With how often these stories are appearing in the media and how they are publicly dealt with by alerting entire campuses of incidents, other issues can remain hidden.

With the recent publication of the newest UNI Annual Security and Fire Safety Report, I originally thought I’d want to investigate the prevalence of sexual assault cases on campus and how they are being dealt with. But upon looking into the statistics, I was shocked to see that there is a terrifying crime being committed much more often that no one is talking about: stalking.

The idea of being watched, followed, and made to feel unsafe by someone everyday is enough to give anyone the heeby jeebies. In the past three years at UNI from 2016-2018, there have been 35 reported sexual offenses between rapes, incest, and fondling incidents. However, in these same three years at UNI there have been 90 cases of stalking reported, 89 of which occurred on campus at UNI and in the residence halls. This means that in the past three years, a UNI student has been 2.57 times more likely to be a victim of stalking rather than a victim of a sexual crime. While of course in a perfect world no one would be a victim of either crime, these are still shocking statistics to look at when it comes to our campus crime. So why is no one talking about it, and what is being done?

I spoke with UNI Police Officer Helen Haire via email about this problem, and she offered great insight and shed light on the topic.

“The threshold to meet the definition for stalking is fairly low, so it doesn’t take much for an incident to be reportable,” she said, “Most of the stalking behavior is comparable to the Iowa crime of harassment. Our perpetrators and victims are usually all students, and sometimes students don’t completely understand that their behavior will rise to meet the Clery definition of stalking.”

Just what is the Clery definition of stalking? According to clerycenter.org, stalking is defined as, “Engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to (1) Fear for the person’s safety or the safety of others; or (2) Suffer substantial emotional distress.”

With so many ways nowadays to be able to contact one another between texting, calling, and various social media platforms, it’s easy to see how someone could start to feel emotionally distressed by a person constantly contacting them.

As a student, I have only ever received Crime Alert emails about sexual assaults on campus, never about stalking incidents. Officer Haire said, “The email alerts (Crime Alerts) are issued based on the criteria Clery establishes, specifically, that a reported incident presents “a serious or continuing threat to students or employees.” Since stalking behavior involves a single, specific person (usually) as a victim and the perpetrator usually does not engage in threatening behavior, the behavior does not rise to a level that warrants a campus wide alert.”

So who is most at risk, and what can they look out for? According to Officer Haire, nearly all victims of stalking have been women, and there are several key things to look out for if someone is making things feel a little off. She said to look for, “Constant/continuous contact with the person either in person, via social media, email, telephone, or mail, they follow you or just “show up” where you are without justification, or they questions your friends or family about you.”

If a student feels like the contact they’ve been receiving falls into these categories, they can go to UNI Police for help. Officer Haire also said that evidence like screenshots, text messages, or other documentation can really help while going through the process of filing a report. She also said that in the presentations they give to students, officers explain how to avoid unwanted contact with other students. They also warn that if someone says they don’t want to remain in contact with you, it’s best to stop to avoid criminal charges.

Officer Haire said that in the end, if you don’t want to remain in contact with someone, don’t worry so much about hurting their feelings. “If a student receives unwanted contact, they should be clear that they do not want to communicate with the perpetrator,” she said, “Sometimes, this can be difficult for students because they don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings, but in the long run, it’s best for everyone if the message is clear.”

Even when people are firm about what they want, it doesn't always happen that way, and people can fall victim to stalking. We could never expect our campus to be completely crime free, but it is good to know that UNI Police are doing something about it.