Students Stalking Faculty: Real and Imagined Relationships

Student stalking of faculty has been relatively ignored in the literature. In contrast to stalking in general populations where in 80% of cases stalking occurs in the context of an intimate relationship, student stalking of faculty occurs in the context of prior relationships in only 14% of cases. In the present study, student stalking of faculty occurring in two situations is analyzed: situations in which there was prior social contact between the student and the professor, and situations in which there was no prior social contact between the student and the professor. Similarities between student stalking of faculty and typologies proposed for stalking in general are considered. Implications of these findings and suggestions for future work are provided.