6.6 million people are stalked in the United States every year, according to stalkingawareness.org.
The Department of Public Safety and Security has made its mission to promote safe choices and options for students at the University, especially this month dedicated to stalking awareness.
The department is putting on this campaign to raise awareness about stalking.
Stalking is an issue at Auburn, especially because of the age group of students attending the University, said Susan McCallister, associate director of public safety information and education.
Half of stalking victims that are female and a quarter of victims that are male are stalked before the age of 25.
"We have dealt with some individual cases and also through Safe Harbor where people have concerns about stalking," McCallister said. "We want to make sure people know what it is and what to do about it."
Sara Frazier, junior in communications, was a victim of stalking and harassment no less than a year and a half ago.
"The first incident that I ever had with this guy with serious stalking was when I updated my Facebook with a location and he showed up there and ended up assaulting me with my friends," Frazier said.
Frazier then took legal action to get a protection order against the stalker that required him to be no less than 100 feet away from her at all times.
"At this time the campus had issued a statement pretty much saying the same thing that if he saw me on campus he was supposed to go the other way and things like that," Frazier said.
Although the police and the university were involved, the problem was not completely solved.
"He continued to follow me, and I would see him everywhere," Fraizer said. "If I went to the grocery store, he would be there. I would just see his car parked places where I would be."
The issue became so severe Frazier resorted to having an armed guard take her to classes.
"I completely medically withdrew from the semester because I didn't want to do the armed escort to every class, and if I was on campus I was so stressed out that I couldn't concentrate in class," Frazier said.
Frazier, along with McCallister, recommended all girls at Auburn take the self-defense class offered through kinesiology 4970.
"It's taught by police officers that actually work on campus and one of them was the guy that was my bodyguard that took me to all my classes," Frazier said. "You couldn't ask for better teachers to teach you how to be aware of your surroundings. If you want an empowering experience you should take that class."
The class is offered in both the fall and the spring, and is one credit hour.
"[The teachers] go into much more detail about stalking and just safe behaviors and unsafe behaviors and how to protect yourself and avoid these situations," McCallister said. "Also they go over how to escape if you are actually confronted with someone trying to harm you."
Frazier attributes most of her strength through dealing with this issue to McCallister.
"She went with me to everything, like going to university court, coming to get me because I was too terrified to go anywhere, she went with me to regular court and she literally held my hand and walked me through every step," Frazier said. "Safe Harbor is what I went through to get to her."
Frazier hopes to get the word out to alert the students and faculty that even though Auburn may seem like a normal college town, there can be danger here.
"I really do feel as though Auburn did as much as they could to get my story out there," Frazier said. "I know people as high up as Jay Gogue heard my story and understood what a threat there is on campus for stalking. We all think we live in a normal college world, but we have no idea what kinds of predators are on campus."
Students who are dealing with a stalker need to address the issue immediately.
"The main thing that we really want to convey to students is that if they feel uncomfortable is one, tell the person to stop the behavior and if the person does not stop they should bring it to someone's attention because it could be considered stalking," McCallister said.
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