NEWS
Stalking case serves as a cautionary tale
Alex AAilstein
amilsiei@unca.edu - Staff Writer
A recent case of stalking on
the UNC Asheville campus
shows the importance of cau
tion when posting public infor
mation online.
The incident, which occurred
in the beginning of September,
is still under investigation, ac
cording to Eric Boyce, chief of
police.
The case involved one stu
dent receiving continuous
emails from another student to
the point where the student re
ceiving the emails felt it neces
sary to report it to the campus
police, Boyce said.
“With the prevalence of so
cial media, students are going
to need to be aware about what
they are putting out there. There
could be a perception that some
online stalking is going on just
by the things students post on
their Facebook or other peo
ple’s Facebook,’’ Boyce said.
Boyce said physical stalk
ing is very rare and electronic
communication seems to be the
main form of stalking on UN-
CA’s campus in recent years.
“I think students need to be
really aware and understand
that once they post that stuff on
there, people are going to read
it, or receive, or take inferences
from only what they read and
not know why the person wrote
that,” Boyce said.
According to Boyce, a main
problem lies with the actual
content of electronic commu
nication.
“It’s very important to con
sider what you are actually
posting or texting, and to not
send something really random
or what people might consider
bizarre, because students are
really aware of that stuff going
on, and they want to at least tell
somebody when things start to
look odd,” Boyce said.
Boyce said, to ensure safety,
students should be aware of
what they’re posting online and
how they are communicating
through electronic devices.
Jay Cutspec, director of the
Health and Counseling Cen
ter, said very little stalking oc
curs on the UNCA campus.
“I’ve been here for about sev
en years and we really have not
had a whole lot of cases about
stalking. It’s not something we
routinely deal with, so gener
ally, I don’t see it as a problem
on campus,” Cutspec said.
Cutspec said abusive relation
ships after the couple separates
cause most cases of stalking.
“We usually see stalking in
the context of an abusive rela
tionship gone bad. Usually the
couple has been separated for a
period of time, and during that
time, one or the other partner
starts to stalk the other in terms
of text messaging or following
them around campus, that kind
of thing. I can only really think
of one or two cases that I’ve
heard of since I’ve been here,”
Cutspec said.
With the new forms of so
cial networks and communica
tions, stalking is made easier
for everyone, and students need
to be careful of what informa
tion they release to the public,
Cutspec said.
“Generally with stalking, it
is one person who is obsessed
with someone else, and it could
really be for a variety of rea
sons. My experiences here, it
is mostly around a relationship
gone bad. I’m really not aware
of anonymous stalking. I’ve
never really seen on campus,”
Cutspec said.
Cutspec said he has advice
for students who feel they are
being stalked: The most impor
tant thing is to tell somebody.
“Let someone know. I would
contact the campus police, be
cause even if you don’t want
them to take action on it, they
need to know about it. It’s also
important that they know the
individual involved,” Cutspec
said.
One of the best ways to re
duce stalking starts with reduc
ing the information for stalkers
to obtain, Cutspec said.
“It seems obvious, but it
doesn’t always happen, is that
students need to take steps to
reduce it, meaning, block that
number on your cell phone, or
don’t let that person be your
friend on Facebook anymore.
What we find is a lot of times
students aren’t willing to do
that even though they don’t like
the stalking,” Cutspec said.
Cutspec said he urges stu
dents to be safe, make sure
somebody is aware if an inci
dent happens and do not put
yourself in a situation with a
person you feel uncomfortable
being around.
“I hear about stalking kind of
often on other campuses, but
not really on ours,” Courtney
Miller, a classics and philoso
phy student, said.
Miller said she hears about a
lot of stalking cases going un-
repoited.
“I feel like just because these
things are hard to trace, they
don’t get reported very often.
So the number of stalkings is
probably higher on our campus
than we think it is. I’m really
glad that it got reported,” Miller
said.
Miller said stalking often
refers to a physical act, and
stalking through email may not
seem as noticed or threatening.
“I’m sure stalking happens
quite a bit, and it’s probably
really scary to see that in your
email. Usually when you think
of stalking you, you think of
someone physically following
you, so it may be seen as less
legitimate threat through email
because you can ignore an
email, but you can’t always run
away from someone who is fol
lowing you,” Miller said.
Kirsten Frazelle, a junior
English student, said Internet
stalking does not surprise her,
and she has heard of cases at
other schools before.
“All evil comes from the In
ternet. I hadn’t heard of this
case until now, I had only really
just seen people acting weird
sometimes. I didn’t realize it
was an online case though, that
is pretty interesting,” Frazelle
said.
Frazelle, an on-campus resi
dent, said she hasn’t heard talk
of stalking on the UNCA cam
pus, but witnessed strange be
havior from other students.
“I actually have a weird ex
perience with that. There is
someone who is pretty creepy
toward my friend who lives in
Mills, it’s pretty weird. But I re
ally haven’t heard much about
other stuff happening besides
this guy just being a ereep,”
Frazelle said.
SGA
inducts
freshmen
senators
Hofper Spires
hspires0unca.edu - Contributor
Last Wednesday night,
newly elected froth-
men Sens. Jeremy Gage,
Charlie White and Con
nor Colson were induct
ed into SGA. “We had a
great turnout this year,
and 1 want to thank all the
students that came out to
the freshmen debates,”
Carleigh Zeman, SGA’s
elections commissioner,
said.
The freshmen elections
took place Sept. 4-6 us
ing student OnePort ac
counts. Candidates put
up flyers and chalked all
around campus to pro
mote their platforms and
debates.
“The debatewas held
on Thursday, Sept. 5, in
the Mills plaza and was a
great success with a won
derful turnout and mar
velous weather,” Leigh
Whittaker, SGA presi
dent, said.
bi othernews:
• Last weekend, SGA
members Charlie
Bridger, Matt Tur
pin, Joe Baker and
Leigh Whittaker
traveled to North
Carolina Central
University to repre
sent LTNC Asheville
at the Association
ot Student Govern
ments, a monthly
meeting of all I't
UNC institutions.
Topics discussed
included collabora
tion among private
universities and
community' col
leges to promote
student engagement
with new voting re-
tjuirements and ini
tiatives to increase
voter turnout for
the upcoming mu
nicipal election and
future NC elections.
Sens. Joe Baker
and Sam Singer are
working together
to assemble a fo
cus groiip for the
Senafe. The focus
group will be a di
verse group of stu
dents and faculty
who will regularly
provide feedback to
the Senate about the
work SGA is doing.
The focus group
will be a direct link
to a wide range of
viewpoints that
represent the UNC
Asheville student
body.
If any student is in
terested in joining
this Senate focus
group, please con
tact Joe Baker at
jbaker I @ unca .edu.
Sens. Ben Judge and
Jack Derbyshire aie
developing a “Did
You Know?” cam
paign. The cam
paign intends to in
form students about
services and oppor
tunities at UNCA
that many students
do not know exist.
The campaign will
hopefully be visible
at orientations and
will have a social
media presence.
Students should
know' that early vot
ing begins Sept. 19
and will end Oct. 5
for the municipal
primaries. Voting
will be held at the
Board of Elections
office in downtown
Asheville at 35
Woodfin Stieet. Stu
dents will be able to
register and vote in
the same day.
Stay tuned for stu
dent voting events
and opportunities!