Student groups sign cyberbullying resolution
Responding to the dangers of digital harassment, Student Association President Neal Casey signed a resolution Wednesday morning that urges administrators to revise the Student Code of Conduct.
The Students Against Cyberbullying resolution calls for the university to explicitly mention cyberbullying as a type of harassment in the Code of Conduct. The resolution also denotes the need for campus-wide education about the prevalence and negative effects of cyberbullying.
During the past two months, SA worked with the Residence Hall Association, Pride Union and the Pan-Hellenic Council to draft the resolution. The presidents of the three collaborating organizations signed the bill.
SU administrators are in full support of the resolution, and revisions to the Code of Conduct are already in the works, Casey said. Looking forward, the task of educating and uniting the student population against cyberbullying falls to student leaders, he said.
‘Members of student organizations are very engaged students, and we have the opportunity to reach them easily,’ Casey said. ‘We need to stand up as a generation and say, ‘No, this will not be tolerated on our campus anymore.”
SA assemblymembers unanimously approved the resolution April 4.
At the press conference, student leaders praised the bill as evidence of a united campus effort to protect students against cyberbullying. But they expressed concern that the fight may be an uphill battle, noting that more work must be done.
The resolution will make SU a safer and more comfortable place to live for all students, said Nate Berger, president of the Residence Hall Association.
‘For 34 years, we’ve been working to turn halls into homes,’ Berger said. ‘Cyberbullying is hindering our efforts, and it has been spreading into residence halls. This cannot, and will not, continue.’
The resolution holds special value for those students who are often targets of bullying, said Danielle Sutton, president of Pride Union, a group that provides support for SU’s gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer community.
‘Our members in particular have been targets for not conforming to expected gender roles,’ Sutton said. ‘The resolution will help ensure their safety — we don’t want another Rutgers.’
The incident Sutton referred to is the Sept. 22 suicide of 18-year-old Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi. Clementi jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge after his roommate secretly filmed him during a sexual encounter with another man in his dormitory room and posted it live on the Internet.
Although SA has resolved to punish perpetrators of cyberbullying, it faces the challenges of anonymous online postings and an evolving Internet landscape, Sutton said.
‘The problem is that there is always a new forum for people to post to,’ Sutton said. ‘The best we can do is to work to make what’s already there better.’
SA broke new ground in working with three independent student organizations to draft a bill, and the work paid off, said Amy Snider, SA chief of staff.
‘The collaboration has been phenomenal,’ Snider said. ‘We all came from diverse backgrounds, but with the same goal in mind.’
Published on April 13, 2011 at 12:00 pm
