A man has been following two female students who use wheelchairs for about a month, but police say they cannot stop him.

The students, who recently reported the incidents, said the man has followed them into university buildings and waited for them to leave their classes.

UAPD spokesman Sgt. Eugene Mejia said police cannot take action because the reported incidents have come on public property and because the women have not designated themselves as victims.

"It's a lot more difficult when you have a person who has been contacted or harassed in a location that everybody has a right to be," he said. "He's been warned, but there has to be probable cause that this person has committed a crime."

Jennifer Frame, a molecular and cellular biology junior, called police after the man stared at her and her friends for approximately 30 minutes as they attended a private Disability Resource Center event on Oct. 4.

When police arrived, the man said he was watching a soccer match on the Mall, police reports stated.

The officers instructed the man to stay away from the women. It was the first time that police confronted the man, but not the last.

He was seen the next day at 6:30 a.m. at the Jim Click's Run and Roll Race on campus. Frame said he was standing directly behind the women during the awards ceremony held on the east side of the Mall, staring at them the entire time.

Although the police were called again, Frame said she is worried about her safety because the man has already ignored UAPD's instructions to stay away from them.

"We thought that by calling the police it would be over," she said. "It just felt like he would just go away."

Alana Nichols, a Pima Community College student who plays on the UA women's wheelchair basketball team, has been confronted by the man twice in the past month.

Two weeks ago, she said he followed her to the Disability Resource Center and waited outside for 2 1/2 hours. When she came out, he was still there.

"Yeah, he just happened to be walking by as I came out," she said. "He tried to strike up a conversation with me."

The man told her that he is not a UA student, she said.

The two women were confronted by the man a month ago while eating at the Student Union Memorial Center. Frame said he sat down at a table next to the women and watched them for 30 minutes.

"It started getting creepy, but because we were all in wheelchairs, we didn't want to confront the guy and have something dangerous happen," she said.

Although UAPD might seem like the logical choice to turn to when faced with stalkers, there are other resources available to students, said Irene Anderson, director of the Oasis Center for Sexual Assault and Relationship Violence.

The Oasis Center was created to help university students, faculty and staff who have been impacted by sexual violence, as well as helping people prevent situations that may lead to sexual violence.

"I think it's important to make this kind of report to as many people as possible," Anderson said. "These women need to be aware that there are many other resources available to stop this from continuing."

For instances where students are stalked and followed, Anderson said Oasis can help develop scripts and patterns of behavior that can help to prevent stalkers from influencing others.

Still, it is up to the person to report the incident and ask for help from the available resources.

"These kinds of decisions are up to the woman involved," she said. "This is considered a form a harassment even when it occurs on school grounds."

Anderson said, in this particular case, the students might need additional help outside of the parameters that UAPD can provide.

"Nobody should tolerate somebody following us and staring at us," she said.

The Oasis Center is located in Room 228 of Old Main. Counselors can be reached at 626-2051.