Whether it is stolen lunch money or harsh words on social media, bullying has affected many students throughout their academic career. Thirty seven percent of students have reported being bullied at school, according to a report by the Department of Health and Human Services, the Cyberbullying Research Center and the Bureau of Justice Statistics published on NoBullying.com.
However, only 27 percent of bullying incidents are reported, leading one Greek group at Sam Houston State University to speak up about the issue.
The Lambda Beta chapter of Multicultural Greek Council fraternity Sigma Lambda Beta held an anti-bullying campaign yesterday in the Lowman Student Center Mall to educate students on the effects of bullying.
Participants in the event pledged to “stomp out bullying” by placing a footprint on the sidewalk of the LSC Mall with their name or their organization’s name listed on the footprint. Nicholas Rodriguez, vice president of Sigma Lambda Beta, said the event allowed the fraternity to step out of their usual philanthropy events and do something different.
“It’s not part of our philanthropy, but it is something we’d love to continue doing every year, and hopefully it’ll get bigger,” Rodriguez said. “Being different, you’re not always going to be accepted by someone. The fact of it is someone is going to pick on you for something so small but it does damage on a larger perspective.”
This issue does not stop after grade school. 15 percent of college students have been bullied and one in three workers reported being bullied in the workplace. In fact, 20 percent of workplace bullying crosses the line into qualifying for harassment.
“We’ve had brothers and we know other people who have experienced bullying and it really hit home for us,” Rodriguez said. “We wanted to promote [awareness] for something that hit so close to home. So many people don’t take awareness of it.”
Another group on campus has recently been involved in anti-bullying efforts. Sophomore psychology major Lauren Galley teamed up with Panhellenic sorority Alpha Delta Pi to promote the “Mean Stinks” campaign, designed to combat girl-on-girl bullying.
Galley, who is an ambassador for the campaign run by Secret Deodorant, worked with Alpha Delta Pi to provide bullying awareness through an informational table at the LSC Mall.
The landscape of bullying has changed in recent years with 52 percent of students admitting to being cyber-bullied.
“With today’s world, it now comes to cyber bullying,” Rodriguez said. “When you were younger, when you went home, you didn’t have to deal with the bully anymore. Now you go home, and the bully is still there. Behind closed doors, the bully is still there. You can be anywhere and the bully is still there.”