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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, APRIL 7, 2014
PAGE 3
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Q&A
Professor speaks out about students bullying faculty
JENNIFER SALVA news@kansan.com
Nobody likes to be bullied
Nobody likes to be billed — including professors. Dr. Robert Harrington, a professor in the Department of Psychology and Research in Education, teaches a course about bullying prevention and intervention, which includes the seldom-considered issue of students bullying professors. He has researched the subject, and says it happens here and at other universities. The following are excerpts from a recent interview with Harrington:
You teach one of the Midwest's only courses on bullying that addresses a topic that people usually don't associate with bullying: students bullying educators. How often does this type of bullying
happen at the University?
RH: I don't have exact stats, because that would have meant I discussed with all faculty over a period of time. I
would say that from what I can see it happens.
I want to make it clear that faculty can bully students too. Faculty are just as culpable. The reason why I got interested in University professors bullied by students is because most people think it's impossible, because there's a power differential and faculty have the power. They get to grade, they're older than you. They have a job, you don't. They're hired by the University, you're not. They're tenured, you're not, and those kinds of things. It is possible.
What led you to study student-to-professor bullying?
RH: I was giving a talk about bullying across the lifespan, and there was a fellow researcher at Emporia State. She said, "Can faculty be bullied?" And I said, "Yeah, I think so." She said, "Because I have a student that when I gave the grades back, he didn't do particularly well on the exam, and the next class he brought a tennis ball. He was squeezing, wrenched at the tennis ball, gritting his teeth." And she said to him, "Are you gonna throw that ball at me?" He said, "Maybe."
This was male on female bullying. She said, "I didn't know what to do. I'm an untenured professor. If I go report it, does that mean I don't know how to control my class? Does that mean I'm incompetent?" They worry about that because some schools still have a perspective that, "Oh you can't handle bullying in your class? You can't handle classroom management. Well that must mean you're not very well trained."
RH: Bullying, to start off with, has three components.
How is bullying defined?
If a student doesn't understand that that is wrong, it could continue, and it could escalate.
It's intentional infliction of harm. Number two, it's about a power differential. I'm bigger than you, I'm stronger than you or there's something different about you. You're gay. I bully you for that. You're black. I bully you for that. You're disabled. I bully you for that. Anything that makes you different from me. That gives me, in my mind, some power. It could be about weight. It could be about height. It could be about the way you wear your hair. The third thing is it has to happen all the time. So you know two kids getting in a fight on the playground or somebody insulting someone else, that's rude discourteous behavior, but that's not bullying, because bullying happens over time. It's a relational problem. And that can happen at universities.
Are bullies and their victims usually male or female?
RH: The research is pretty clear that female professors are
more likely to be bullied than male professors, by either female or male students.
Generally females are smaller than guys. So what you'll hear is, "He came up to me, face to face, and I felt really intimidated." You get a big guy standing face-to-face to you, and they don't even have to say much, and it can be quite intimidating. Some students will use their physicality to get in your face, too.
What does it look like when students bully professors about grades?
RH: There's a big push to get good grades because many students want to go to graduate school. We get into a lot of different issues with grades. It could be bullying professors about, "I should've gotten another point or two on this essay," and the faculty member is pushed into it to change that grade.
There are faculty who don't
want to go through grading panels and having been here 34 years. I talk to faculty who think, "The student got a C. They want a B+, fine, I just can't deal with this." Now that's bullying.
What should a professor do if he or she is bullied?
RH: Bullying you can flip around and it can become a great learning experience. Let me put it this way: You can be really smart intellectually, but if you are not smart emotionally, we call that emotional intelligence, it doesn't help a lot. Emotional intelligence is how you handle yourself in interrelationships. So for instance, if you have good ideas, but you are abrasive, if you don't communicate you don't problem solve, it doesn't help.
— Edited by Chelsea Mies
Student dancer auditions for Broadway musical
CAMPUS
MACKENZIE EVELAND/
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Adam Lower auditions for
the Broadway musical "Newies."
MADDY MIKINSKI
news@kansan.com
Adam Lower, a junior from Wichita, traveled to New York City last weekend to audition for Broadway. He was one of only 60 people to be considered for the show.
"I'd never been to New York before, but I decided to fly out by myself to audition for the Broadway musical 'Newsies,' Lower said.
Lower saw an ad online and after speaking with a cast member from Broadway's
Cinderella," he decided to go audition. After learning a short dance in 15 minutes, Lower wasn't chosen, but said that for him the journey was the best part.
"I remember he was really excited about [auditioning]," said his friend Taylor Rice, a junior from Overland Park. "He was looking up audition videos. He downloaded the whole soundtrack to the musical."
Lower showed up to auditions three hours early to ensure his place.
Lower is no stranger to talent. Throughout his varied athletic career, Lower has tumbled and dived. He has set a diving record and placed in Cheerleading Worlds. He's also a member of the University Dance Company.
"I watched the other guys warm up and I was amazed by the talent." Lower said.
Lower credits his previous sports with helping him excel in dancing.
"Diving and tumbling contribute to my ability to dance because the sports taught me
Lower also uses other means to improve his dancing.
body control and flexibility; Lower said.
"If [Lower's] not in dance class, he's looking at dance videos on YouTube. He always tries to improve himself dance-wise. He always has a new move to conquer," Rice said.
Lower, a biology major and residential assistant at Lewis Hall, is involved in numerous other activities.
"I'm involved in Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, Able Hawks
and Allies and I have two jobs. I have been a member of SUA and Student Senate," Lower said.
Slowly though, Lower is starting to realize he can't do everything.
"Wanting to go to medical school while also desiring to audition for roles in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles has made me have to re-evaluate my goals," Lower said. "I've decided to just go wherever my heart leads me."
- Edited by Cara Winkley
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