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Speak Out
What happens when schools don't protect from bullying?
When you’re in school, you’re supposed to be safe. This doesn’t always prove to be true.
Between classes, in the locker room and on the bus ride home, you might be the target of bullying. If the instigators at your school are especially cruel, they might intrude on your home life, continuing to torment you through text messages or on Facebook.
Bullying is nothing new. Neither is suicide as a result of bullying, despite the recent avalanche of media pointing to a rising trend. School students, particularly gay ones, didn’t suddenly this fall start killing themselves because they were being harassed.
But when high-profile cases – like Rutgers freshman Tyler Clementi and 15-year-old Phoebe Prince – brought other instances of bullying-related suicide into the national spotlight, the issue at large came with it. School districts have begun to rethink how they address bullying. And the federal government has begun to think how it deals with schools that don’t address it.
In his contribution to “It Gets Better,” the YouTube project to confront the bullying of gay youths, President Barack Obama said, “We’ve got to dispel this myth that bullying is a normal rite of passage, that it’s some inevitable part of growing up. It’s not.”
Other, less likely groups have decried anti-gay bullying. “We have all witnessed tragic deaths across the country as a result of bullying or intimidation of gay young men,” said Michael Otterson, managing director of public affairs for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at a news conference. “We join our voice with others in unreserved condemnation of acts of cruelty, or attempts to belittle or mock any group or individual that is different — whether those differences arise from race, religion, mental challenges, social status, sexual orientation or for any other reason.”
School districts across the country have also begun readdressing the way they deal with bullies and the bullied. But how far they go is a point of debate. The Huffington Post recently reported on the struggles by Minnesota’ s Anoka-Hennepin School District, which is reviewing its policy on bullying after a gay student’s suicide. On the one hand, gay-rights supporters say that an anti-bullying program must specifically address harassment of gay students in order to work. On the other hand, religious groups say that doing so would support the notion that being homosexual is acceptable.
Chuck Darrell of the Minnesota Family Council told the Post, “We believe the bullying policy should put the emphasis on the wrong actions of the bullies and not the characteristics of the victims.”
Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network director Eliza Byard disagrees. “Policies have to name the problem in order to have an impact,” she said.
Cyberbullying provides another wrinkle to the issue. A study at Iowa State University found that 54 percent of gay, lesbian and transgender students have been picked on through the Internet after they got home from school. Of those, 45 percent said they experienced depression, and 26 percent experienced suicidal thoughts.
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The Department of Education made it clear that the bullying of students “who fail to conform to sex stereotypes” violates Title IX, a federal law governing sex discrimination. This law governs educational opportunities and is often discussed in connection with athletics, but has roots in school bullying and harassment. Title IX sprang from the women’s movement of the 1970s, itself an offshoot of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. One of the many catalysts in the push for civil rights was the threats of violence against black students who wanted to attend white schools in the South. |
The Denver Post reported that schools have limited authority to protect students from cyberbullying without infringing on students’ rights to free speech. But they can step in “if there is a potential for violence, if the speech significantly interferes with a student’s ability to participate in school, or if it significantly interferes with school operations,” Nancy Willard, director of the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use, told the Post.
Schools face penalties
Schools are making efforts nationwide. But when those efforts fall short, they may now lose federal funding.
In an announcement on Oct. 26, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan clarified that U.S. sex discrimination laws, known as Title IX, also protect students who “fail to conform to sex stereotypes.” Schools that don’t adequately protect from bullying risk violating Title IX.
“We must get directly involved,” Duncan told reporters, “when bullying crosses a line and becomes discriminatory harassment.”
What do you think?
What can schools do to protect students from bullying? Should bullying policies specifically address gay, lesbian and transgender students who are bullied? Should cyberbullying be addressed? If so, how? Do you agree that schools that fail to address bullying violate sex discrimination laws? Is bullying a problem at your school? If so, how is it addressed? Join the discussion!
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