Dive Brief:
- Research out of Hamline University in St. Paul revealed disorganized campus policies about cyberbullying and general denial at institutions.
- Times Higher Education reports that less than 20% of 384 higher education employees surveyed across 47 states believed their institution was “completely prepared” to handle cyberbullying.
- Many survey participants reported cyberbullying to be worse on other campuses than their own, according to the article.
Dive Insight:
Cyberbullying has gotten more attention in elementary and secondary education than at the college and university levels. Schools serving younger students have clear cyberbullying policies and regularly enforce them. The research from a PhD candidate at Hamline indicates colleges are fairly disorganized about creating such policies and advertising them to faculty and, presumably, students, too. Colleges have their own set of cyberbullying problems, however, most recently with the burgeoning anonymous social media app Yik Yak. Administrators must figure out how to make more concerted efforts to address them.