Alexis Ruhlen, 19, was in class last Thursday when she allegedly started getting messages from her boyfriend threatening to kill the nursing student and her classmates at Ramapo College.
When she got out of class, police say Pawel Sliwinski was waiting for her with a knife inside her parked car on campus.
“I tried to jump out of the car. I was screaming and people were just looking at me,” said Ruhlen.
Ruhlen, a nursing student, says no one nearby helped and that she was beaten and forced to drive for miles until they ended up in Woodbury – where Sliwinski was arrested.
Ruhlen’s friend and classmate, Madison Morgan, is concerned about campus security after the ordeal.
Morgan says parking lots don’t have security cameras or blue light emergency boxes that could have helped her classmate. Morgan started a petition to change that.
“Once this happened, it brought a lot of awareness,” said Morgan. “It brought this to a lot of people’s attention. It seems safety in the parking lot has been overlooked.”
Ramapo College put out a statement praising the victim for her bravery in coming forward about what happened.
They say areas that don’t currently have cameras or alert buttons are highly patrolled by security, and that the college has been reviewing its security protocols since September.
They say several parking areas have cameras and that they are considering adding more.
Morgan says any plans need to be put into action.
“I remember walking in that day and seeing her seat empty,” said Morgan. “That’s the moment me and a couple classmates said, ‘We are not allowing this to slip through. Something needs to be done.’”
The petition for increased security at Ramapo College has more than 3,000 signatures.