After being allegedly harassed for months by a fellow student, Hannah Kwok says campus safety turned her away when she tried to get help.
Kwok, a fourth-year international business student, said it started in September 2011 when the fellow student asked her to watch his stuff while he went to the library. He then followed her and asked for her number repeatedly, even when she said no, Kwok said.
Despite rejecting his advances, Kwok said she saw him multiple times on campus and he would approach her and suggest they spend time together.
“A month or two later he saw me at Starbucks,” Kwok said. “He grabbed my arm . . . He was like, ‘Why don’t you want to hang out?’”
Kwok said she went to campus safety after the incident at Starbucks, where someone who she thought to be a receptionist said she should “wait until something actually happens.”
“She made it sound like it was nothing,” Kwok said, adding she never returned to campus safety.
Allan Burns, Carleton’s director of university safety, said in cases such as Kwok’s, the first step is to make sure the person doing the harassment knows the victim doesn’t want the attention.
“If they feel that they’re uncomfortable [confronting the person] or that there might be at risk doing that then obviously we won’t go there,” Burns said. “After that’s established, it’s very clear we can take measures.”
If the incident continues to a criminal extent, Ottawa police then become involved, he said.
Kwok said she’s heard from friends that students don’t feel like going to campus safety will help with these issues.
“I’ve heard throughout the whole year that [campus safety] hasn’t really done anything. I’m not the first girl. Some of my friends have gone too.” Kwok said. “We don’t feel safe on campus. Especially with everything that’s happened this year.”
Burns said Carleton students should always feel comfortable bringing these issues to the department.
“They should feel comfortable; that’s what we’re here for. Our purpose of being here is to provide a safe and secure area for students,” Burns said. “I would like to think that we’re always approachable. If there’s ever a situation where a person deals with one of our members and they feel that interaction wasn’t appropriate, we need to know about that.”
— with files from Jane Gerster
