{"id":75084,"date":"2023-10-23T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-23T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/?post_type=bu-article&#038;p=75084"},"modified":"2024-03-06T11:11:46","modified_gmt":"2024-03-06T16:11:46","slug":"the-antibully","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/magazine\/articles\/2023\/the-antibully\/","title":{"rendered":"The Antibully"},"content":{"rendered":"\t<div class=\"wp-block-editorial-leadin magazine-block-editorial-leadin is-style-emphasis-on-text has-media has-box has-media-focus-center-top has-tertiary-theme\">\n\t\t<div class=\"container-lockup\">\n\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-leadin-media\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<img width=\"2000\" height=\"1435\" src=\"\/wheelock\/files\/2023\/10\/LeahHollis-BostonUniversity-1011-Layers-copy-e1697721148545.jpg\" class=\"\" alt=\"Leah Hollis in light blue on city street standing with her arms crossed smiling\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/files\/2023\/10\/LeahHollis-BostonUniversity-1011-Layers-copy-e1697721148545.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/files\/2023\/10\/LeahHollis-BostonUniversity-1011-Layers-copy-e1697721148545-836x600.jpg 836w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/files\/2023\/10\/LeahHollis-BostonUniversity-1011-Layers-copy-e1697721148545-1500x1076.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/files\/2023\/10\/LeahHollis-BostonUniversity-1011-Layers-copy-e1697721148545-768x551.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/files\/2023\/10\/LeahHollis-BostonUniversity-1011-Layers-copy-e1697721148545-1536x1102.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/files\/2023\/10\/LeahHollis-BostonUniversity-1011-Layers-copy-e1697721148545-1151x826.jpg 1151w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/files\/2023\/10\/LeahHollis-BostonUniversity-1011-Layers-copy-e1697721148545-479x344.jpg 479w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/files\/2023\/10\/LeahHollis-BostonUniversity-1011-Layers-copy-e1697721148545-737x529.jpg 737w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/files\/2023\/10\/LeahHollis-BostonUniversity-1011-Layers-copy-e1697721148545-951x682.jpg 951w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/files\/2023\/10\/LeahHollis-BostonUniversity-1011-Layers-copy-e1697721148545-1438x1032.jpg 1438w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/files\/2023\/10\/LeahHollis-BostonUniversity-1011-Layers-copy-e1697721148545-1841x1321.jpg 1841w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/files\/2023\/10\/LeahHollis-BostonUniversity-1011-Layers-copy-e1697721148545-959x688.jpg 959w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/files\/2023\/10\/LeahHollis-BostonUniversity-1011-Layers-copy-e1697721148545-1475x1058.jpg 1475w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/files\/2023\/10\/LeahHollis-BostonUniversity-1011-Layers-copy-e1697721148545-1901x1364.jpg 1901w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/files\/2023\/10\/LeahHollis-BostonUniversity-1011-Layers-copy-e1697721148545-1394x1000.jpg 1394w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-outer\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-inner\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"wp-prepress-tag\">Alumni<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"head\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Antibully\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h4 class=\"deck\">Leah Hollis has spent her career studying <strong>workplace bullying<\/strong>. Now, she\u2019s in a position to prevent it.\u00a0<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar magazine-prepress-layout-metabar\">\n\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-date\">October 23, 2023<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-comments\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"#comments\" class=\"wp-prepress-component-comment-counter label\">2<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-credits\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul data-credit-type=\"By\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/bu-author\/marc-chalufour\/\">Marc Chalufour<\/a><\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-share js-bu-prepress-share-tools\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-twitter\"><span>Twitter<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-facebook\"><span>Facebook<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-action\"><\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-editorial-introparagraph magazine-block-editorial-introparagraph is-style-dropcap-dimensional has-dropcap\"><div class=\"wp-block-editorial-introparagraph-content\"><p>&#8220;R<strong>acial justice through education has been the family brand,\u201d says Leah P. Hollis. <\/strong>Her mother was the first affirmative action officer at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown. Her father, a school superintendent, desegregated the Johnstown school system and diversified its teaching staff. They both served on the Pennsylvania Human Rights Commission\u2019s advisory board. Hollis (\u201998), the recently appointed associate dean for access, equity, and inclusion at Penn State\u2019s College of Education, has followed in their footsteps.&nbsp;<br><br>As an athletics administrator in the 1990s, Hollis developed diversity training programs for Northeastern University. While doing diversity work, Hollis noticed that the people most likely to be victims of bullying came from marginalized groups. By the time she joined the faculty at Morgan State University in 2014, she had become an expert in workplace bullying\u2014a topic that hadn\u2019t received much attention from researchers because of a shocking truth: it\u2019s not illegal. <\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Her first book, <em>Bully in the Ivor<\/em>y <em>Tower: How Aggression and Incivility Erode American Higher Education <\/em>(Patricia Berkly, 2012), exposed the high rate of bullying in academia. For <em>Black Women, Intersectionality, and Workplace Bullying <\/em>(Routledge, 2022), Hollis used years of research to argue that the more complex someone\u2019s identity, the more likely they are to experience workplace bullying. She received the 2022 Lucy Wheelock Award for her work and delivered the college\u2019s 2023 convocation speech.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Awareness of workplace bullying has grown in large part because of the work of scholars like Hollis, many of whom are now shifting their focus to finding solutions. In addition to her ongoing academic research, Hollis is the founder and president of a diversity training consultancy, Patricia Berkly, LLC, through which she advises colleges and universities.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hollis left Morgan State to join Penn State in August. After 15 years studying workplace bullying and advising colleges on workplace policies, she is stepping into an administrative role that has a direct impact on the culture\u2014the nuances of which she\u2019s gotten to know intimately. \u201cWorkplace bullying is based on a power differential\u2014and who has the least amount of power in an organization? Women and underrepresented groups,\u201d Hollis says. \u201cMy research informs how I think about access, equity, and diversity.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>THE BRUTAL TRUTH ABOUT WORKPLACE BULLYING&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Civil rights legislation\u2014Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, in particular\u2014criminalizes discrimination based on an individual\u2019s identity, including age, race, religion, sex, gender identity, and disability. But workplace bullying\u2014repeated aggressive behavior intended to hurt someone\u2014is not illegal in the US as long as it doesn\u2019t target one of those protected traits.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s legal to be a jerk,\u201d Hollis says. \u201cAnd that hurts a lot of people.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bullying occurs more frequently in higher education than in the general workforce. Power imbalances between students, staff, and faculty (some with the protection of tenure) can&nbsp;foster hostile environments. Colleges, as compared to the private sector, traditionally have fewer resources to deal with issues as they arise and may be slower to react. The job market is also unique, Hollis points out. For some jobs, the hiring cycle might take a year, meaning that someone who\u2019s being bullied doesn\u2019t have much professional mobility.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Perhaps most significantly, just because a person has power doesn\u2019t mean they have people skills. \u201cThink about it\u2014how did you get to be the dean or the provost or the vice president?\u201d Hollis says. \u201cBecause you studied a whole lot. But there\u2019s nothing in there that trains you to have emotional intelligence, how to manage people, or how to have insight into how people are thinking.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-bu-pullquote magazine-block-bu-pullquote has-image-focus-center-middle has-tertiary-theme has-light-theme-text\"><div class=\"wp-block-bu-pullquote-inner\"><figure><\/figure><blockquote><div class=\"container-lockup\"><div class=\"container-icon-outer\"><div class=\"container-icon-inner\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"container-text\"><hr\/><div class=\"quote-sizing\">WHEN YOU HAVE A LARGE GROUP SAYING, \u2018ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!\u2019 YOU HAVE TO PAY ATTENTION.<\/div><footer class=\"caption\">Leah Hollis<\/footer><hr\/><\/div><\/div><\/blockquote><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Bullying can describe a range of behavior. Hollis cites aggressive behavior, like insults and cursing, as well as more passive actions, including cutting\u00a0someone\u2019s budget or simply ignoring them. Other examples include using students as weapons by encouraging them to complain about someone, unfairly reallocating academic space, overloading someone with tasks, or burdening them with a challenging teaching schedule. Those most likely to be bullied are women, people of color, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community. \u201cBecause minorities tend to be in entry- and middle-level positions, not in the C suite, there\u2019s a deficit in power,\u201d Hollis says.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hollis\u2019 research at Morgan State revealed bullying\u2019s most disturbing outcomes. She studied insomnia in bullied men and self-medication in Black women. She recalls meeting one woman who had gained 50 pounds, stopped sleeping, and ended up in an intensive care unit after\u00a0extended bullying. Another woman suffered a heart attack but said she couldn\u2019t leave her job because her child needed her tuition benefit. \u201cIt almost killed me,\u201d Hollis recalls the woman saying. Other people she\u2019s spoken with have suffered panic attacks, seizures, and miscarriages. Some have contemplated suicide. \u201cThe body is not designed to withstand this stress,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>A PATH FORWARD&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As grim as some of her research has been, Hollis sees reasons for optimism. \u201cMore schools are adopting policies. More people are speaking up,\u201d she says. \u201cYounger people are more empowered to rail against abuse and being treated poorly. When you have a large group saying, \u2018Enough is enough!\u2019 you have to pay attention.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While US policies still lag behind those of many global allies\u2014Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, and all of Scandinavia, among others, have laws to prevent workplace bullying\u2014states are making gains. More than 30 legislatures are considering workplace harassment bills, and Puerto Rico passed one in 2020. Perhaps a tipping point is near.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For Hollis, the important work has shifted from defining the problem to creating solutions. As a consultant, she has helped college presidents and their cabinets identify workplace bullying and intervene effectively. She audits bullying policies and advises human resource departments to prioritize them the same as Title VII policies.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Her pitch to colleges is simple: If you ignore bullying behavior, the problem will get worse. Workplace culture will suffer, productivity will be lost, and employees will be unhappy and unmotivated.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now an administrator herself, Hollis is in a position to implement her own research. \u201cLet\u2019s train people on how to spot a bully, how to tamp it down, how to address it,\u201d she says. \u201cLet\u2019s spend our time on the positive.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Her first book, Bully in the Ivory Tower: How Aggression and Incivility Erode American Higher Education (Patricia Berkly, 2012), exposed the high rate of bullying in academia. For Black Women, Intersectionality, and Workplace Bullying (Routledge, 2022), Hollis used years of research to argue that the more complex someone\u2019s identity, the more likely they are to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20791,"featured_media":75085,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[],"bu-publication":[6613],"magazine-article-category":[6620],"magazine-topic":[6938],"news-article-category":[],"news-topic":[],"bu_edition":[6941],"media_type":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/75084"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20791"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75084"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/75084\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77591,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/75084\/revisions\/77591"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75084"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=75084"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-article-category?post=75084"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-topic?post=75084"},{"taxonomy":"news-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-article-category?post=75084"},{"taxonomy":"news-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-topic?post=75084"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=75084"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=75084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}