Safety against stalking pushed during Wednesday night SAPA event
The Charles V. Park Library opened its auditorium doors Wednesday to the Sexual Aggression Peer Advocates’ presentation of “Always There: A Program About the Dangers of Stalking.”
The hour-long seminar was lead by SAPA members, including programming coordinator Paul Carbini, who stressed the purpose of the presentation was to educate people about potential threats stalking creates.
“People don’t really know how common it is, or how dangerous it really is,” Carbini said. “We are just hoping to educate the people that will come, and to get the word out there.”
When asked why she decided to come out to SAPA’s event, Indiana freshman Heather Hadden said, “I had heard about it and I thought it would be cool. I have been to other SAPA events, and I liked them a lot."
Hadden said she is not concerned with the issue of being stalked on campus, though she uses caution when communicating with strangers.
“I try to watch who I give my phone number out to, and my full name,” she said. “Especially now, being in college, if I don’t know you on sites like Facebook, I’m not going to add you, because you just never know.”
SAPA members defined what stalking is through a series of video clips, definitions and statistics. Different methods of stalking were also explained, including the utilization of Foursquare, a social-networking application where people can "check-in" to locations in real-time, allowing others to know where they are.
Through this and several other means, SAPA members said technology has created the easiest way to become prey to stalkers. As the seminar came to a close, SAPA members suggested steps that could be taken when dealing with a stalker. The group offers a 24/7 help line, as well as an online chat that provides free, confidential support.
“Safety, safety, safety … it cannot be stressed enough,” is the message one member of SAPA repeated during the presentation.
When the presentation finally came to an end, Director of Sexual Aggression Services Stephen Thompson said he was very proud of his SAPA team.
“They know their stuff,” Thompson said. “Whatever the topic, if it relates to sexual aggression, they can talk about it.”
Thompson said he hopes the campus community, with help from SAPA, will rid themselves of the "bystander” mentality.
“We don’t want the audience to take this for granted, or think it’s no big deal,” Thompson said. “If something is wrong, we have to notice, interpret and then act upon it. That’s the process we want to engage people in. That’s what we’re here to do.”
