Many college students today engage in “Facebook stalking.” But compared to this relatively harmless act, serious stalking can be a real issue on college campuses, said Michelle Garcia, director of the Stalking Resource Center in Washington, during a presentation to Northwestern students and faculty Tuesday.
In honor of Stalking Awareness Month, the NU Women’s Center sponsored two days of seminars on both the Evanston and Chicago campuses. Tuesday’s program, titled “Stalking: Name it. Know it. Stop it,” was presented in Evanston to educate the NU community on this overlooked crime.
This is the first year the Women’s Center has sponsored programs during this month. They felt Garcia’s 20 years of experience working with victims of sexual and domestic violence made her the perfect fit for the event.
In the U.S., 3.4 million people are stalked annually, and the rate is highest among the 18-to 24-year-old demographic. In her presentation, Garcia emphasized campus awareness and appropriate use of technology as two key factors in protecting stalking victims.
Four lectures were given throughout the day on various topics related to stalking, including how to work with stalking victims, proper law enforcement protocol and student awareness.
The first portion of the day was primarily attended by officials from departments including the NU Police, Residential Life and the Office of Health Promotion and Wellness.
“This teaches us what it means to advocate,” said Ellen Herion, assistant director of the Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution.
Garcia discussed how a large proportion of stalking cases go unreported. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, there are 14 cases of stalking for every 1,000 people. If this figure were perfectly applicable to NU, 266 students would be affected annually. However, the NU figure may be larger or smaller due to a number of factors.
Renée Redd, the director of the Women’s Center, said she sees only about five cases a year.
Garcia stressed her key points again in the evening to a small group, which included mostly students involved in Sexual Health and Assault Peer Educators. In this lecture, she spent much of the program emphasizing the dangers of technology.
Garcia specifically discussed how cell phones could easily be used as a stalking device and the dangers of privacy settings on the Internet, especially on social networking sites.
“I learned a lot,” said Weinberg sophomore Alex Finkelstein. “I knew that technology could do some of this, but it was eye-opening to see how it was really used.”
