The recent indictment of nine teenagers in the Phoebe Prince case and the approval of the anti-bullying legislation by both the Massachusetts State Senate and the House of Representatives have ignited campus conversations about bullying.
“I have worked for MHC and we have never had a report of bullying to Public Safety that I can remember,” said Barbara Arrighi, interim director of Public Safety. “We have had disagreements from roommates, or other conflicts, but nothing I would report as bullying.”
“Usually bullying happens in middle and high school as it was here in South Hadley and in Springfield. Bullying would never be tolerated at MHC and if any community member were to report such an incident we would take it very seriously and assist the victim with whatever remedies were available legally and through the college disciplinary system,” she said.
“I haven’t been bullied. Bullying isn’t something that happens in a college. Here it’s called hazing but there isn’t much of that here especially since we don’t have much Greek life. You always have the option of removing yourself from the situation, something that school kids very often don’t have,” said Yamini Manohar ’12.
“I haven’t been bullied myself. There are probably a lot of people who have but don’t really recognize it. I think that there is a need to expand the definition of bullying to include discrimination and harassment not only on the basis of race and religion but also on the basis of class, gender and sexual orientation,” said Carleigh Beriont ’10. She continued, “A lot of bullying also happens in the form of peer pressure.”
“Women are different from men in the forms of bullying they take up. Though not always, with women it’s more psychological and emotional, while with men it’s more up front,” Beriont added.
Hazing on sports teams and other student organizations is prevented by the 1986 Massachusetts State Hazing Law and the Honor Code. Student organizations are required to have members sign anti-hazing forms. According to the college website, “All students receive a copy of this policy when receiving keys to their residence hall room and sign a statement that they will abide by this policy.”
“They are very nice on the crew team. They welcome you if you’re new. I haven’t seen outright bullying. Certain people might have certain attitudes. Even on the crew team, not everyone is encouraging and supportive but I wouldn’t classify that as bullying,” said Zuha Maryam Shaikh ’13.
“There are several forms we have to sign and rules we have to follow relating to hazing,” she added.
“It can be difficult to judge the difference between having fun and hazing from the outside,” said Jessica Azulay ’11. “If you feel uncomfortable in a situation or feel like things have gone too far, it is your responsibility to say something.”
The Holyoke Confessional, an anonymous campus-wide forum, has been identified by many as a potential site of cyber bullying.
“Cyber bullying is definitely an issue in a globalizing world, especially here with sites like the Confessional. I’m personally not a fan of the Confessional. There is always the potential for things to go wrong,” said Azulay.
“Bullying requires chronic and organized harassment of one person, that isn’t what the Confessional does. Though people do get picked on, it’s not one giant group picking on one person,” said Manohar. She added: “The anonymity helps makes things less personal then bullying.”
“The Confessional is the epitome of cyber bullying. It’s the perfect place for it. It’s anonymous and you don’t even know if the posters are from Mount Holyoke. It’s so much easier to be rude with all this technology,” said Beriont. “People have a right to their opinion but they don’t need to be so mean. There are boundaries.”
With regard to the measures the College could take to prevent bullying, Beriont thinks education is “the best way to prevent it.”
“I feel that Mount Holyoke does a good job in terms of reacting to incidents on campus and educating campus leaders, but there is always room for improvement,” she said.
“I really feel that the College can make rules and people can sign them but it depends on the people and the community more than the College. If something can’t be classified as outright bullying, it can’t be reported,” said Shaikh, citing the example of peer pressure.
Kelton Artuso ’13 contributed reporting to this article.
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