March 19, 2014

“If we took just five minutes to recognize our beauty instead of attacking each other’s differences… it’s not hard. It’s actually an easier way to live. And ultimately, it saves lives.” This inspiring quote was spoken by Ellen Page, as she talks about how harsh people and their words are to others. The bullying epidemic has grown to a new extreme within the last few years with about 4,400 kids committing suicide every year because of it. Although the majority of bullying usually occurs throughout high school, it still exists in middle and elementary schools, and even colleges. “When it comes to bullying in college, according to a Health Day News study in 2012, 15 percent of college students reported being bullied and nearly 22 percent reported being cyberbullied. The study found that when it comes to bullying in college, 38 percent of students knew someone who was cyberbullied, and about 9 percent said they had cyberbullied.”
Of those who said they’d been cyberbullied, 25 percent said it was through a social networking site, 21 percent through texting, 16 percent through email and 13 percent through instant messages. We need to be aware of how are words and actions affect others.
The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater’s confession page on Facebook is where we can see a large amount of bullying on campus. Over half of young adults have been exposed to cyber bullying. Anyone is able to access this page and read the nasty remarks that people make. Although the original posts are anonymous, it is still bullying. An example of some of the bullying taking place on the confession page is a comment that said, “If one more Tri Pig gets in my way at the gym in going to call Old McDonald and tell him to wrangle his hogs up.” Some of these posts are very inappropriate and shouldn’t be repeated, but if you go look for yourself you can read some of the nasty remarks people have to say. These words that they use to describe how they are feeling is unjust and cruel. People need to watch what they say because they never know what their words can lead to.
So I ask you, Whitewater students, what can you do to prevent bullying on campus?

Nicole Kohnke and Jenna Blakey