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Auburn University hosting Anti-Bullying Summit to create safer schools

School bullies no longer confine their torment to pushing and shoving on the playground or vicious taunts in the lunchroom.

The methods of schoolyard predators have become more relentless and sophisticated, thanks to the explosion of text messaging and social media.

“When you’re talking about cyber-bullying issues, it’s 24-7,’’ said Dr. Cynthia Reed, director of Auburn University’s Truman Pierce Institute and a professor of educational leadership. “It never stops. It’s anonymous, it’s very public and it can be broadcast. It changes the dynamics incredibly.’’

Intensified and emboldened by the technological tools at their disposal, school bullies are inflicting a severe emotional and physical toll. In 2010 alone, at least 14 cases of student suicide were linked to bullying. According to a U.S. Department of Education report released last year, approximately 160,000 children a day stay home from school because they are afraid of being bullied physical, verbally, emotionally or sexually.

While national studies have demonstrated links between bullying and increased likelihood of suicide, poor grades and substance abuse among K-12 students, Reed and her colleagues hope to create a climate for safer schools in Alabama.

Auburn University will host its first Anti-Bullying Summit June 2-3 at the Mobile Convention Center in Mobile, Ala. Co-hosted by Auburn’s Office of Professional and Continuing Education and the Truman Pierce Institute, a research and outreach unit in the College of Education, the event will enable educators, administrators, student leaders, community leaders, policymakers and law enforcement personnel to discuss ways to create bully-free learning environments.

The summit will kick off a series of year-long activities in the state aimed at creating safer and more tolerant school communities.

“[Bullying] is a power issue,’’ Reed said. “It’s an issue of people looking to lord power over someone, generally because they feel powerless themselves.’’

Reed said that nearly one-third of all public high school students in the United States fail to graduate or drop out of school. Of that portion, at least 10 percent cite a lack of safety in their school or bullying as the driving factor for abandoning their education.

A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirms that bullying victims are more likely to experience depression, suffer from poor grades and experiment with drugs and alcohol, but the aggressors often experience personal turmoil. According to the website StopBullying.gov, bullies have a higher risk of abusing alcohol or drugs as teens and adults and are more prone to be abusive toward spouses or children as adults. One study reported that 60 percent of boys who bullied others in middle school had a criminal conviction by age 24.

“Bullying has these consequences that play out in so many different ways,’’ Reed said. “There used to be this school of thought that a certain amount of it is a rite of passage and everybody goes through it. We really cannot allow that to be taking place. As adults, we need to step in and create protective environments and policies.’’

Anti-Bullying Summit underway in Mobile: fox10tv.com

Last Updated: Jun 03, 2011