Tyler Clementi was a freshman at Rutgers who jumped off the George Washington bridge in 2010 after his roommate and another student streamed a video of Clementi and another man's personal encounter. His suicide was the result of cyberbullying.
The Office of Dispute Resolution Services hosted a discussion by Michael Freeman, assistant director of diversity education and student engagement for the Office of Diversity Initiatives, on the subject Thursday afternoon in room 223 of the Student Union.
Cyberbullying has greater effects than physical bullying because it is viral, content put online can spread rapidly and is extremely difficult to delete permanently, Freeman said. People tend to bully others online because their identity can remain anonymous and there are no consequences to their actions.
"Cyberbullying can have a long-term impact on mental health because … the victim feels disempowered," Freeman said.
According to Freeman, disempowerment leads to suicide. The victim is completely helpless to the bullying that is going on and cannot do anything to stop it or to defend themselves. Bullying makes the victim question their self worth and value.
"Suicide is the cruelest thing you can do because a person dies with their unfinished business," Freeman said. "There are 12 to 15 times more attempted suicides than there are of completed suicides. Many times we try to study things after they happen, which is not the best way to do things."
Freeman believes that society should focus on educating people on how to deal with bullying instead of focusing on ways to hold bullies accountable for their behavior. He also stated that it is hard to enact anti-bullying policies because of the fuzziness of what bullying is, it can range from any form of physical or emotional violence – from sarcasm to sexual abuse.
It is hard to pinpoint cyberbullying because it occurs mostly over the Internet, although it can also occur through text messaging. Cyberbullying can be seen on Facebook and Twitter and is hard to accuse someone of because the Internet is a place where most people take advantage of their first amendment right to free speech.
"I don't know how much can be done," junior nursing major Chris Carroll said. "He talked about establishing policies and how it's hard to carry them out."
Alexandria Prejido, senior nursing major, believes it is difficult to define a bully although she thinks they deserve no leniency.
"It depends on the person. Little kids make fun of each other to communicate," Prejido said. "There should be no tolerance when it comes to bullying."
Freeman said that if you see someone bullying you should step in, but many people don't interfere because they don't want to get involved, even though 80 percent of bullying can be stopped by bystander intervention. He attributed this to our society's loss of humanity and kindness.
To prove his point, Freeman used examples of a 2-year-old girl in China who was hit by a car and at least 18 people walked by before someone stepped in to do anything and an elderly man in New York who was hit by a rock thrown from a vehicle and no one helped him.
"We must be receiving signals from somewhere to not intervene," Freeman said.
Freeman summed up his argument simply, "Bullies bully because they can."
He believes society needs to define bullying and get rid of protected classes. For example, people are less likely to intervene or protect bullying that is being done to homosexuals and minorities.
Calling 911 is the most effective method to stop bullying, according to Freeman.
The Mentor's In Violence Prevention is a nationally recognized education program that focuses on gender violence, bullying, and school violence prevention. For more information go to http://mvp.sdes.ucf.edu.
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