President Barack Obama declared January to be National Stalking Awareness Month, according to a news release from the White House. The Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention Center added stalking awareness to its list of educational programs in 2008.
“Our office recently has adopted stalking as one of our biggest areas of concern,” said Alyssa Rogers, graduate assistant and co-coordinator for the RSVP Center.
Rogers said in many cases, victims are stalked by their ex-partner.
RSVP Center coordinator Danica Wolf helps students set up a stalking log. In the log, a person can record instances where they felt followed or harassed. This will help the victim keep track of the information if he or she wants to press criminal charges or gather evidence to pursue a restraining order.
“It has been something that is definitely prevalent on college campuses because students are in such a constant routine, and it’s very easy for someone to track their whereabouts when they have the same schedule and may be go to the same places,” Rogers said.
This program was made possible by a three-year grant from the Office on Violence Against Women at the U.S. Department of Justice in 2007, and received the same grant again in 2010. The White House news releases stated young adults and women are most at risk for stalking.
In honor of Stalking Awareness Month, the RSVP student group STARS (Stronger Together Against Relationship and Sexual Violence), for which Rogers is an adviser, will kick off a monthly series entitled “STARS Speaks” with a presentation about stalking in the media.
“We’re talking about how stalking is portrayed in the media in advertising, movies, song lyrics and that kind of thing,” Rogers said. “The idea is to talk about how this is often made light of when really it’s a serious subject and we shouldn’t joke about it.”
Rogers also wants to address how the word stalking is used in everyday conversation in phrases such as “Facebook stalking.”
“It’s used in a very joking way when for a lot of people it is a really serious issue that does happen,” Rogers said.
This series will continue throughout the year with other relationship violence topics such as harassment and sexual assault.
The RSVP Center also works with True North Shelter, which also has resources for people who feel unsafe with stalking.
“Stalking can be a difficult crime to recognize,” the news release stated. “The majority of survivors do not report stalking victimization to the police, in part because perpetrators use a variety of tactics to intimidate and harass their victims.
MU Police Department Capt. Brian Weimer said he has not seen any cases of stalking at MU, but he encouraged any potential victims to contact the police.
“If you’re faced with any type of violation of law or any type of danger, make sure that you call us to get the appropriate assistance,” Weimer said. “We’ll show up, get the facts and then help you from there.”
