Multiple reports of an individual who followed and captured images of women on and around campus, particularly at the university Pohl Recreation Center, circulated online earlier this month.
The images posted online were done so in a sexual manner and without the consent of the women who were photographed. Some victims are now calling for change.
On Aug. 30, a user posted a warning to the “r/unt” Reddit page informing students an individual was taking sexually suggestive pictures of women at the Pohl Recreation Center without their knowledge or consent and posting them to a lewd website with explicit captions.
Students visited the website and found photos of over 50 different women – some even found pictures of themselves – all posted by an anonymous user. The posts have since been deleted from the website.
“To date, the photos reported appear to have been taken in public spaces,” university police said in a campus-wide email. “However, we are working to identify the subject(s) taking the photos so we can evaluate the situation further.”
The university police asked students in the same email to “stay aware of your surroundings.”
University police said they are unable to comment further due to “an ongoing investigation.”
In posts written by the individual on the same website, which have also since been deleted, they gave advice on how to get the best angle for photos and videos. They also wrote about what settings to use to get the best photo quality, how to capture videos of groups, tips on how to hide your camera and more — all based on what they have done in the past to “get the shot.”
In one post, the individual talks about how they followed one woman for “over an hour.”
“I’ve never seen anything like the outfit the girl in green was wearing,” the individual said in a since-deleted post. “The second I saw her I knew she was my target for the whole day. It took me over an hour to capture this much of her going unnoticed, and 15 different videos to get all the best screenshots and poses.”
In the same post, the individual linked at least 11 images.
Kate, who asked to be referred to by her first name only, has been an advocate for the victims since finding several photos of herself on the website.
“I don’t want this to just be a media spike like most things like this are,” Kate said. “I want it to keep being continually brought up so that something does happen.”
After a friend warned Kate about the website, she checked the forum to find an album full of photos of her.. Kate used her personal workout log to find the exact date and two-hour window when the photographs were taken.
She filed a report with the university police.
“I would have wanted them to have more want to find the guy than just saying ‘Oh, nothing we can do,’ and acting quicker on this to find the guy,” Kate said. “If [UNT] has the discretion to determine if [Pohl Recreation Center] is public or not, I would want them to say that it’s not.”
Another victim, Claire, who also asked to be referred to by her first name only, agreed with Kate’s frustration in regard to the lack of police reaction.
“I do plan on making a police report about it,” Claire said. “I just never actually did because I was told that they were just going to kind of brush it under the rug – they weren’t going to do anything serious about it.”
More than likely, these victims will not obtain legal recourse for the invasions of privacy they endured, said Dr. Wendy Watson, university pre-law advisor and political science principal lecturer on constitutional law.
“If there is some way for them to come together and find each other, that might be worth their time,” Watson said. “It doesn’t necessarily give them greater legal recourse, but if they came together, they might at least get some media attention. And they might be able to work, for example, with our Title IX office to help develop a policy that doesn’t help these young women, but might protect people going forward.”
The university’s Code of Conduct, Policy 7.012, explicitly denotes the terms of a “harassment” violation and states, “A person may be suspended pending the outcome of the conduct process when the University believes the student’s continued presence poses a substantial and immediate danger to the health, safety or welfare of any member of the University community or the University premises.”
According to the policy, actions must be “sufficiently severe, pervasive or persistent that it interferes with a student’s ability to benefit from educational programs or activities” to constitute harassment.
Those found in violation of the policy can face suspension or further consequences based on the university’s conduct evaluation.
“We can either ban him from the gym or we can strike something on his student records, but that’s just a Band-Aid,” Kate said. “It would be great if they could say you’re not allowed to photograph or video in that space because there’s plenty of gyms that do that.”
Non-consensual video or photography in public spaces is only restricted by law in restrooms and designated changing areas, according to Texas Penal Code 21.15.
However, membership-based gyms, such as 24 Hour Fitness and some other Texas universities including the University of Texas at San Antonio, have policies restricting non-consensual video or photography within open gym spaces.
“These women did absolutely nothing wrong,” Watson said. “The reality is your image can be used in ways you don’t expect.”
Watson also encouraged victims to speak to an attorney specializing in privacy or Texas voyeurism law.
Texas Penal Code 21.17 restricts voyeurism, the act of observing others in an intimate setting for sexual gratification – including through electronic devices – in public spaces where one has a reasonable expectation of privacy.
Watson said she is not licensed to practice law in the state of Texas, but worked as a trial law clerk on cases such as United States v. Rose in 2003, which involved interstate stalking and the posting of contact information for underage children to pornographic websites that led to the harassment of those children.
“This is a moment where there is the possibility to change policy, and there’s no reason why we can’t have a policy that says that within these specific rooms, these specific buildings,” Watson said. “If you’re taking pictures of people, you need their consent. I don’t think that is asking too much.”
Melisa Brown, Senior Director of UNT Relations, said the university is “in the process of reviewing our current protocols on this topic.”
Brown did not share details or a timeline for this protocol review.
“This isn’t just about him taking pictures,” Kate said. “This is a part of a larger narrative of women being taken advantage of. You see how much sexual assault ends up happening on this campus because there’s so many different things being posted by the UNT PD.”
According to the UNT 60-Day Crime and Fire Log, there have been at least six reported cases involving sex crimes on campus since Aug 1, three of which are classified as rape.
“We need to have more protection, especially on a university campus, and I think this could be a way to ask for that,” Kate said.
At the time of writing, the individual responsible for the photos has not been identified.
“It’s scary because we don’t know if that predator is still out there taking photos of us,” Claire said.
No comments:
Post a Comment