By Hathiya Chea, Ashley Dorsey, & Timothy Maggio Shepherd University

U.S. Department of Health defines three major types of bullying: Verbal bullying includes “teasing, name- calling, inappropriate sexual comments, taunting.” Social bullying includes “leaving someone out on purpose, telling other children not to be friends with someone, spreading rumors about someone, embarrassing someone in public.” Physical bullying includes “hitting/kicking/punching, spitting, tripping/pushing, taking or breaking someone’s things, making mean or rude hand gestures.” U.S. Department of Health also identifies bullying that occurs online: Cyberbullying can include “mean text messages or s, rumors sent by or posted on social networking sites, and embarrassing pictures, videos, websites, or fake profiles.” Cyberbullying can feel even more pervasive than bullying in person: Cyberbullying can literally “happen any time of the day or night,” meaning the victim may feel attacked even in what should be a safe space. Although online message are posted to “very wide audience” the bully often remains completely anonymous. The messages persist for long time periods because “deleting inappropriate or harassing messages, texts, and pictures is extremely difficult after they have been posted or sent.”

MacDonald & Roberts-Pittman (2010) researched college-age bullying and noted that although, “the bulk of the literature continues to focus on the K-12 school environment… bullying behaviors do not simply come to a halt during the college years” (p.2003). Their study uncovered the following statistics: 38% of college students reported knowing someone who had been cyberbullied 21.9% of college students reported being the victim of cyberbullying 8.6% of college students reported having cyberbullied someone else Cyberbullies used a variety of platforms: “21.2% reported that someone had sent them harassing or threatening text messages; 16.1% reported receiving harassing or threatening messages; 13.2% had received harassing or threatening Instant Messages (IMs); 9.9% had had someone write negative or embarrassing things about them in a chat room; and 6.8% had had someone post negative information or images of them on a website” (p. 2005). Schenk & Fremouw () studied impacts on the mental health of college students. They found the following statistics: Bullying victims tested higher on “psychological subscales of depression, anxiety, phobic anxiety, and paranoia” (p. 32). Victims also reported frequently feeling “frustrated, stressed, sad or hurt, angry, and/or experienced difficulty concentrating as a result of their victimization” (p. 32). Most disturbingly, victims scored higher than their peers on “suicidal planning/attempts and frequency of suicidal ideations” (p. 32).

U.S. Department of Health recommends bystander intervention to stop bullying in K-12 by asking students to “set a good example, help [the victim] get away, tell a trusted adult, be [the victim’s] friend,” and to avoid providing “bullying an audience.” Byers (2013) offered a similar call to action for college students: Because bystanders focus blame on the perpetrator, “there may be particular reluctance to acknowledge and carefully examine the bystander role with reference to real cases of bullying” (p. 257). Thus, he argued that “serious discussions among groups of students about how to shift a culture of bullying bystander complicity to a culture of responsibility” (p. 257)

Our video aims to… Communicate institution’s missions, goals, and values: providing a safe and harassment-free environment (Shanahan & Kelly, 2012). Demonstrate the “serious impact cyberbullying is having on victims” (Schenk & Fremouw, 2012). Educate students on prevalence of bullying in institutions of higher education (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). Encourage bystander intervention to prevent bullying on college campuses (Byers 2013).

Byers, D. S. (2013). “Do they see nothing wrong with this?” : Bullying, bystander complicity, and the role of homophobic bias in the Tyler Clementi case. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services, 94, doi: / MacDonald, C.D., & Roberts-Pittman, B. (2010). Cyberbullying among college students: Prevalence and demographic differences. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 9, doi: /j.sbspro Schenk, A.M., & Fremouw, W. J. (2012). Prevalence, psychological impact, and coping of cyberbullying victims among college students. Journal of School Violence, 11, doi: / Shanahan, S.J., & Kelly, J. G. (2012). How to protect your students from cyberbullying. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from United States Department of Health and Human Services. Be More than a Bystander. Stopbullying.gov. Retrieved from United States Department of Health and Human Services. Bullying definition. Stopbullying.gov. Retrieved from bullying/definition/index.html. bullying/definition/index.html United States Department of Health and Human Services. What is cyberbullying? Stopbullying.gov. Retrieved from