The number of telephone harassment cases this semester almost has reached last semester’s total, University Police said Tuesday.

By the seventh week of the spring semester, students reported 47 cases of telephone harassment with six arrests made, said UP Sgt. Ralph Taylor.

Students reported 63 cases of harassment during the fall semester, and police made one arrest, he said. Police logged 119 cases of telephone harassment in 1990, Taylor said.

“It’s hard to say why this trend is happening. Many of these people seem to have personal vendettas against their victims,” Taylor said.

Earlier this month, police said the rise in harassment cases might be a result of warmer weather or because the victims have been bothered many times and are finally fed-up with the telephone abuse.

Although Taylor said many people think telephone harassment is a harmless prank, it is a Class B misdemeanor punishable by a possible six-month jail sentence and up to $500 in fines.

Judicial Officer Larry Bolles said it does not take many prank calls to land an NIU student in trouble. “I think it’s absolutely necessary to charge someone with telephone harassment even if they only made one call,” he said.