Ending Harassment Intimidation Bullying Claudia Habib Fresno City

Ending Harassment, Intimidation, & Bullying • Claudia Habib (Fresno City College) • Nancy Jennings (Cuyamaca College) • Phil Smith (American River College, Executive Committee)

Harassment & Bullying: The Continuum

Some Useful Definitions Bullying is an act of repeated aggressive behavior in order to intentionally hurt another person, physically or mentally. Harassment is systematic and/or continued unwanted annoying actions of one party or a group, including threats and demands. Intimidation is an unlawful act of intentionally coercing or frightening someone to do (or to not do) something against his or her will, such as forcing someone to give money by threat of violence.

Consequences of Bullying Phoebe Prince, a teenage Irish girl who had recently emigrated to America, hanged herself after a campaign of cyber-bullying. Other students at her school in Boston, Massachusetts, told police she was the victim of a campaign of harassment by bullies. One message sent to the teenager shortly before she took her own life read: 'Go kill yourself'. In the weeks leading up to her death, Prince had said she received harsh messages on her mobile phone and nasty comments on the social networking site Facebook. January 27, 2010

Consequences of Bullying On New Year’s Day 2012, 18 -year-old Jeffrey Fehr hanged himself in the front entrance of his family's Granite Bay home. Jeff had just completed his first semester at Sierra College. Openly gay since his sophomore year in high school, he had recently suffered a break up and been treated for depression. His parents believe that a lifetime of antigay bullying contributed to their son’s death.

Consequences of Bullying On New Year’s Day 2012, 18 -year-old Jeffrey Fehr hanged himself in the front entrance of his family's Granite Bay home. Even though he had been reaching out to other LGBT teens to prevent their suicides, he himself succumbed to suicide. In one of his films, he said, “I was physically, mentally, emotionally and verbally assaulted on a day-to-day basis for my perceived sexual orientation. I was stalked, spit on, ostracized and physically assaulted. ” Eric James reported that his family referred to him as "disgusting" and "perverted" when he came out and that his mother subjected him to an exorcism in an attempt to "cure" him. Two months ago he was finally kicked out of the house. The Washington Post reports that youth who come out and are rejected by their families are eight times more likely to commit suicide than those who are accepted.

What can be done? Academic Senate passed Resolution 3. 01 (Spring 2011): Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community support the goals of AB 620 (Block, March 31, 2011) to develop and implement professional development programs to train faculty to generate inclusive curricula, to address harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity, to train campus public safety officers about hate crimes and harassment, to designate an employee at each campus to address the needs of LGBT faculty, staff, and students, and to share demographic information collected with the California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC).

AB 620 Passed! AB 620 requests that: Student Conduct Policies Be Adopted The governing board of each community college district adopt and publish policies on harassment, intimidation, and bullying to be included within the rules of student conduct.

AB 620 Passed! AB 620 requests that: Contact Person Be Designated The governing board of each community college district designate an employee at each of their respective campuses as a point of contact to address the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender faculty, staff, and students.

AB 620 Passed! AB 620 requests that: LGBT Demographic Data Be Collected The State Chancellor’s Office collect aggregate demographic information regarding sexual orientation and gender identity of staff and students within other aggregate demographic data collected, and transmit annual reports to the Legislature.

AB 620 Passed! AB 620 requests: LAO to Assess and Submit Quality of Campus Life Recommendations Legislative Analyst Office conduct an assessment of the campuses of each of the segments of public postsecondary education to develop recommendations to improve the quality of life on those campuses for LGBT faculty, staff, and students, and to publish a summary of those recommendations on its Internet Web site.

Unfortunately… AB 620 was a “request” rather than a “must do. ” How do we as an Academic Senate accomplish the aims of the legislation?

Possible Solutions Creation of model policy language related to student conduct codes. Encourage compliance with “soft mandates, ” perhaps regular requests from the Academic Senate or CCCCO for reports on campus climate for LGBT faculty, staff, and students. Make recommendations for how local senates can provide oversight of AB 620 s reporting provisions.

An Even Bigger Question How do we reduce incidents of bullying, intimidation, and harassment at our colleges?

Professional Development Strategies Clear nondiscrimination statements in syllabi. Role-playing activities so that faculty know how to deal with slurs/slang in the classroom. Explanations of techniques for promoting open, but civil discourse.

Programmatic Strategies Speakers series. Pride and heritage events. Is there an equivalent of Puente/Umoja for LGBT students? Mentor-mentee programs Safe Space Programs

Safe Space Programs Pink Triangle Black Triangle Rainbow Flag

Safe Space Program