Mobbing and the Academy: A Cross-Institutional Comparison of Practice and Policy

• In Event: Enhancing the Academy: Understanding and Preventing the Various Forms of Victimization on College Campuses

Abstract

Despite many years of substantive research into workplace violence, bullying, and mobbing within the corporate world, relatively little attention has been focused on such activity in higher education. Bullying and incivility within the academy is not a new development. In recent years there have been numerous well publicized incidents of mobbing, harassment, bullying, and even violence within the halls of academe. Such practices have led to legal action, loss of careers, and even suicides. Bullying and mobbing result in harm not only to the target of such activity but the perpetrator and the institution as a whole. However, there remains little concrete research delving into such practices. This paper is an examination of mobbing as a phenomenon and tool used by academic departments and colleges as a means of basic social control. A comparison of three institutions will be examined: A small traditional Methodist college located in the Midwest, a medium sized Jesuit university situated in the deep South, and a large for-profit institution located on the West coast. Policy and administrative actions will be explored as the practices of mobbing and bullying are analyzed.

Author

• Wendy Lynn Hicks, Ashford University