Burnaby RCMP investigating harassment on SFU campus

Is a serial harasser targeting SFU students? Some students have serious safety concerns following reports of harassment on campus by a man who doesn't attend the school.

Mounties in Burnaby are investigating after a student at Simon Fraser University reported to security staff that she'd been harassed by an unknown man on campus.

SFU's director of communications told CTV News that security staff located the man on Wednesday, issued a trespassing notice and escorted him off campus.

"We took pretty decisive action try to deal with this situation," Kurt Heinrich said.

The man, he said, was not associated with the school.

The university says the event was "isolated," but numerous reports of similar incidents are circulating on social media.

Third-year student Hayley Vendiola is just one of several students who say they've been victims.

She told CTV News Monday she had been working in a study area when a man approached and asked if there was a MacDonald's on campus. She expected him to leave once she answered.

"Instead, he just sort of stood there, started at me, didn't reply at all, so I felt sort of uncomfortable with that, but I thought maybe he's just shy," Vendiola said.

When she went back to doing her homework, she said the man sat down beside her and kept staring at her while he asked for her phone number and Facebook profile.

"At that point, I was quite uncomfortable," she said, adding that she sent text messages to friends asking them to come help her.

When she decided to find a new place to study, the man allegedly asked her where she was going and stood up as if to follow her.

Ultimately, Vendiola ended up hiding in the women's bathroom for 10 minutes until he left.

Some of the other stories shared on Facebook are much more violent than Vendiola's.

"He grabbed one of the girls. He tried hugging her forcibly. He tried kissing her," former student Jashan Randhawa told CTV. Randhawa said he felt compelled to create a list of incidents, which he then forwarded to security.

The university said it has only received one formal complaint from a member of the campus community who expressed "some real concerns that there was somebody that was making them feel really uncomfortable."

That said, Heinrich encouraged all students to notify security staff of anything that makes them uncomfortable.

"As soon as we're notified, we're able to take action to protect and make sure that our campus community members feel safe," he said.

He also encouraged students to take advantage of the university's Safe Walk Program and the services at the Sexual Violence Support and Prevention Office.

There are also emergency phones scattered across campus that students can use at any time.

According to Heinrich, security will keep an eye out for the man while the RCMP works to determine if a criminal offence was committed.

But the alleged string of incidents has left students like Vendiola concerned for the safety of their friends as well as their own well-being.

"When I saw the post afterwards, seeing that so many people had been affected and so many people had had it so much worse, I was extremely uncomfortable," she said.

"I think more should be done, but I'm not sure what's within SFU's range to be done."

With files from CTV Vancouver's Breanna Karstens-Smith