People are tricky, and sometimes we don’t use the best judgment in choosing someone we are interested in. We’ve all been there. I know I definitely regret a few exes, but some of them can get pretty scary. You need to know what steps to take if this ever happens.
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Let someone know if you are being abused or stalked in any way. You will feel a lot safer having someone in your corner. Don’t ever let someone scare you into silence. You should let your CM know (if you live in a dorm), but you can also talk to your advisor. They will help you take the next few steps.
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Next, you have a few pretty important decisions to make. How far do you want to go with this? You should do whatever you need to to make yourself feel safe on campus again. Do you need to change dorms? Do you want to change your number? Do you want to report them? These are just a few options you can choose to do to take back control.
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Two different campus resources you can contact are ResLife and Student Conduct. If the person is a student, you can report them to Student Conduct. If you don’t want to take immediate action against this person, I still highly recommend doing this because someone else could fall victim to this person later on and it’s best for Student Conduct to have them flagged, so they know this person is a repeating offender. As for ResLife, talking to them just lets someone know, and they can keep that person out of your building (if they don’t live there) and they can help you find different housing if it gets serious enough.
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Also, the Campus Police are there to keep you safe. You can always report everything to them. You can even have one of them walk you home at night through the Orange Shield App.
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Lastly, you can should keep your friends close and your advisor updated until things cool down and the issue is resolved.
Nobody should feel afraid on campus. If this is happening to you, don’t be afraid to speak up; you are not alone. This has sadly been a pretty common issue this year and it needs to be stopped. You should be learning and having fun while in college.
When I asked a girl on campus who was a victim of domestic violence and stalking (who I will leave anonymous for her safety), she told me, “I feel safer knowing that the school is on my side.”