There have been two reported stalking cases in 2016 so far at North Dakota State.
In a 2011, Sexual Assault Prevention and Advocacy collected information and found that twenty-one percent of women and 16 percent of men experienced stalking behavior while a student at NDSU.
The most prevalent types of stalking are receiving unwanted texts, phone calls and being followed.
The National Stalking Awareness Month website, stalkingawarenessmonth.org, reported that “7.5 million people are stalked in one year in the United States” and that a “majority of stalking victims are stalked by someone they know.”
Brooke Hubert, a sophomore studying university studies, said that she has “not witnessed it, but that’s kinda the thing about stalking. You tend not to see it because they don’t make it obvious, mainly the person being stalked is affected.”
NDSU defined stalking as “a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to fear for the person’s safety or the safety of others; or suffer substantial emotional distress … course of conduct means two or more acts” in its 2015-2016 Annual Security Report, Personal Safety and Security.
There was one reported case of stalking to University Police in 2013, zero in 2014, 2015 saw 4 cases and 2016 had 2 cases reported to University Police.
A student on campus told The Spectrum that stalking “does exist on campus” and he would not join a group on campus “because one of the members had borderline stalked them and had made them feel uncomfortable.”
The student spoke on terms of anonymity for privacy and safety purposes.
NSAM also reported that “about half of all victims of stalking indicated that they were stalked before the age of 25” and “78% of stalkers use more than one means of approach” to stalk a victim.
Claire Cadwallader, a freshman studying university studies, said that “although she hasn’t seen much of it on campus that doesn’t mean students aren’t victims of cyber stalking.”
NDSU also reported in its 2015-2016 Annual Security Report that in the case of a stalking incident the “institution will assess immediate safety needs of complainant, will assist complainant with contacting local police if complainant requests and complainant will be provided with contact information of local police… and will enforce anti-retaliation policy and take immediate and separate action against parties that retaliate against a person.”