NATIONAL STALKING AWARENESS MONTH AT ODU

The Old Dominion University Women's Center will observe National Stalking Awareness Month with special events from Monday, Jan. 22, through Friday, Jan. 26.

The Women's Center will sponsor a "Sack Pack Party," where students gather safety items for stalking victims from 12:30-1:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 25, in the Potomac/York River Room of Webb Center. The materials will be donated to area sexual assault and domestic violence agencies.

"Because stalking may take place either before a sexual assault or at the end of a relationship, it often goes unrecognized as the serious, and sometimes fatal, crime that it is," said Alexa Priddy, assistant director of the Women's Center.

Stalking, typically defined as a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear, affects nearly 1.4 million Americans a year.

Although its prevalence is high, according to Priddy, public awareness that stalking is a crime remains low. Statistics show that one in 12 women and one in 45 men will be stalked in their lifetime and that 76 percent of female homicide victims were stalked prior to their death.

The Women's Center provides confidential support, advocacy, referrals and education. For more information call 683-4109 or visit www.odu.edu/womenscenter.