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Tag: Bullying

  • Exclusive: Philippine defense secretary vows to stand up to ‘bully’ China | CNN

    Exclusive: Philippine defense secretary vows to stand up to ‘bully’ China | CNN

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    Manila, Philippines
    CNN
     — 

    China is behaving like a schoolyard bully toward smaller countries, the Philippine defense secretary told CNN Friday during an exclusive interview in which he warned his nation, and the wider world, had to stand up to Beijing’s territorial expansion in the South China Sea.

    “I cannot think of any clearer case of bullying than this,” said Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilberto Teodoro Jr. “It’s not the question of stealing your lunch money, but it’s really a question of stealing your lunch bag, your chair and even enrollment in school.”

    His comments follow increasingly assertive moves by the Philippines to protect its claim to shoals in the South China Sea during more than a month of high-stakes maritime drama.

    While tensions between China and the Philippines over the highly-contested and strategic waterway have festered for years, confrontations have spiked this summer, renewing regional fears that a mistake or miscalculation at sea could trigger a wider conflict, including with the United States.

    The region is widely seen as a potential flashpoint for global conflagration and the recent confrontations have raised concerns among Western observers of potentially developing into an international incident if China, a global power, decides to act more forcefully against the Philippines, a US treaty ally.

    Recent incidents have involved stand offs between China’s coast guard, what Manila says are shadowy Chinese “maritime militia” boats and tiny wooden Philippine fishing vessels, Chinese water cannons blocking the resupply of a shipwrecked Philippine military outpost, and a lone Filipino diver cutting through a floating Chinese barrier.

    Teodoro characterized the Philippines’ refusal to back down in the waters within its 200 nautical-mile exclusive economic zone as a fight for the very existence of the Philippines.

    “We’re fighting for our fisherfolk, we’re fighting for our resources. We’re fighting for our integrity as an archipelagic state… Our existence as the Republic of the Philippines is vital to this fight,” Teodoro said in a sit down interview at the Department of National Defense in Manila. “It’s not for us, it’s for the future generations too.”

    Video purportedly shows Chinese ship firing water cannon at Filipino vessel in disputed waters

    “And if we don’t stop, China is going to creep and creep into what is within our sovereign jurisdiction, our sovereign rights and within our territory,” he said, adding that Beijing wont stop until it controls “the whole South China Sea.”

    Beijing says it is safeguarding its sovereignty and maritime interests in the South China Sea and warned the Philippines this week “not to make provocations or seek troubles.” It accused Philippine fishing and coast guard vessels of illegal entry into the area.

    China claims “indisputable sovereignty” over almost all 1.3 million square miles of the South China Sea, and most of the islands and sandbars within it, including many features that are hundreds of miles from mainland China. Along with the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei and Taiwan also hold competing claims.

    Over the past two decades China has occupied a number of reefs and atolls across the South China Sea, building up military installations, including runways and ports, which the Philippines says challenges its sovereignty and fishing rights as well as endangering marine biodiversity in the resource-rich waterway.

    In 2016, an international tribunal in The Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines in a landmark maritime dispute, which concluded that China has no legal basis to claim historic rights to the bulk of the South China Sea.

    But Beijing has ignored the decision and continues to expand its presence in the waterway.

    Philippine Coast Guard removes Chinese floating barrier in disputed area of the South China Sea.

    Video released of diver cutting China’s floating sea barrier

    In his first sit-down TV interview with an international news outlet since he took the position in June, Teodoro was keen to stress whatever happens in the South China Sea impacts the globe.

    Crucially, the waterway is vital to international trade with trillions of dollars in global shipping passing through it each year. It’s also home to vast fertile fishing grounds upon which many lives and livelihoods depend, and beneath the waves lie huge reserves of natural gas and oil that competing claimants are vying for.

    With nations already suffering from inflation brought about by Russia’s war in Ukraine, there are concerns that any slow-down in travel and transporting of goods in the South China Sea would result in significant impact to the global economy.

    “It will choke one of the most vital supply chain waterways in the whole world, it will choke international trade, and it will subject the world economy, particularly in supply chains to their whim,” Teodoro said, adding that if this were to happen, “the whole world will react.”

    The defense secretary warned that smaller nations, including regional partners, rely on international law for their survival.

    “Though they need China, they need Russia, they see that they too may become a victim of bullying. If they (China) close off the South China Sea, perhaps the next target may be the Straits of Malacca and then the Indian Ocean,” Teodoro said.

    This photo taken on February 14, 2020 shows a Filipino fisherman sailing off at sunset from the coast of Bacnotan, La Union province, in northwestern Philippines facing the South China Sea. (Photo by Romeo GACAD / AFP) (Photo by ROMEO GACAD/AFP via Getty Images)

    Why it matters who owns the seas (April 2021)

    Only a few years ago the Philippines was treading a much more cautious path with its huge neighbor China.

    But since taking office last year, Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr has taken a stronger stance over the South China Sea than his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte.

    Marcos has also strengthened US relations that had frayed under Duterte, with the two allies touting increased cooperation and joint patrols in the South China Sea in the future.

    In April, the Philippines identified the locations of four new military bases the US will gain access to, as part of an expanded defense agreement analysts say is aimed at combating China.

    Washington has condemned Beijing’s recent actions in the contested sea and threatened to intervene under its mutual defense treaty obligations if Philippine vessels came under armed attack there.

    US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Lindsey Ford reiterated Washington’s commitment to the mutual defense treaty in testimony before a US House subcommittee on Tuesday.

    She said the treaty covers not only the Philippine armed forces, but also its coast guard and civilian vessels and aircraft.

    “We have said repeatedly and continue to say that we stand by those commitments absolutely,” Ford said.

    A Philippine supply boat, center, maneuvers around Chinese coast guard ships as they tried to block its way near Second Thomas Shoal, locally known as Ayungin Shoal, at the disputed South China Sea on August 22.

    Defense secretary Teodoro has concerns about a possible escalation “because of the dangerous and reckless maneuvering of Chinese vessels” but he was clear that any incident – accidental or otherwise – the blame would lie with China “squarely on their shoulders.”

    And he called global powers to help pressure Beijing over its moves in the South China Sea.

    “Peace and stability in that one place in the world will generate some relief and comfort to everyone,” he said.

    As part of the Marcos administration’s commitment to boost the Philippines defense and monitoring capabilities in the South China Sea, Teodoro said further “air and naval assets” have been ordered.

    “There will be more patrol craft coming in, more rotary aircraft and we are studying the possibility to acquiring multi-role fighters,” he said, adding that would “make a difference in our air defense capabilities.”

    Preferring cooler heads to prevail, Teodoro said that diplomacy would provide a way forward providing Chinese leader Xi Jinping complies with international law.

    “Filipinos I believe are always willing to talk, just as long that talk does not mean whispers in a back room, or shouting at each other, meaning to say there must be substantial talks, open, transparent and on a rules-based basis,” he said, while also adding that talks cannot be used as a delaying tactic by Beijing.

    The Philippines, he said, has “no choice” but to stand up to China because otherwise “we lose our identity and integrity as a nation.”

    But conflict, he added, was not the answer or desired outcome.

    “Standing up doesn’t mean really going to war with China, heavens no. We don’t want that. But we have to stand our ground when our ground is intruded into.”

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  • US Coast Guard leaders long concealed a critical report about racism, hazing and sexual misconduct | CNN Politics

    US Coast Guard leaders long concealed a critical report about racism, hazing and sexual misconduct | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    For nearly a decade, US Coast Guard leaders have concealed a critical report that exposed racism, hazing, discrimination and sexual assault across the agency.

    The 2015 “Culture of Respect” study, a copy of which was obtained by CNN, documented how employees complained of a “boys will be boys” and “I got through it so can you” culture. Many said they feared they would be ostracized and retaliated against for reporting abuse and that those who did come forward often had their complaints dismissed by supervisors.

    Some of the report’s core findings mirrored those of another secret investigation into rapes and sexual assaults at the Coast Guard’s academy. The existence of that probe, which was dubbed Operation Fouled Anchor and completed in 2019, was revealed by CNN earlier this year. That investigation found that serious misconduct had been ignored and, at times, covered up by high-ranking officials, allowing alleged offenders to rise within the ranks of the Coast Guard and other military branches.

    Following CNN’s stories on the Fouled Anchor investigation and subsequent Congressional outrage, the Coast Guard’s commandant, Linda Fagan, apologized to cadets and the workforce, and acknowledged that the Coast Guard needed to be more transparent to service members, Congress and the public about such matters.

    “Trust and respect thrive in transparency but are shattered by silence,” she wrote.

    But under her watch, the Coast Guard continued to keep the report hidden from the public even though she had been asked to release it long before the Fouled Anchor controversy unfolded this summer. And although the Culture of Respect study is more than eight years old, more than a dozen current and recent Coast Guard employees and academy cadets told CNN many of the problems that were identified continue to plague the agency.

    In response to questions from CNN this week, a spokesman for Fagan said the commandant plans to make the report public next week as part of her “commitment to transparency,” alongside the findings from a 90-day internal study of sexual assault and harassment within the agency, prompted by the Fouled Anchor reporting.

    Coast Guard officials further said in a statement that the Culture of Respect report was not originally intended to be released widely to the workforce, but rather was to be used by senior leaders to inform policy decisions. Officials, however, did not explain why Fagan had not found a way to release the report sooner, particularly since alleged victims or perpetrators were not named in the report.

    The document has long been shrouded in secrecy. The copy of the report obtained by CNN states that it was to be stored in “a locked container or area offering sufficient protection against theft, compromise, inadvertent access and unauthorized disclosure.” It was to be distributed only to people on a “need to know basis” and should not be released to the public under the Freedom of Information Act, the report stated.

    The study, which was conducted internally and included interviews from nearly 300 people from across the organization, highlighted concerns that “blatant sexual harassment of women” and hazing were regularly accepted as just part of the culture. Those accused of discrimination, assault and other misconduct, were allowed to “escape accountability and instead resign, retire, or transfer,” the report found, with some offenders getting rehired by the Coast Guard in civil service positions even after being forced to retire or otherwise leave military service. “We are allowing potentially dangerous members back into society with no punishment,” stated one employee. Others said leaders brushed serious problems ‘under the rug,” and that “senior leaders care about themselves and their careers” instead of “the folks that work for them.”

    Authors of the report also noted a common concern among victims of misconduct, who said they believed coming forward would mean putting their careers on the line with little hope of their alleged perpetrators facing serious consequences. “Victims are ostracized, there is a stigma,” one person told interviewers. “No one believes them, no one helps them.”

    Even seeking mental health treatment could prove risky, they said, with one interviewee bringing up how the Coast Guard could “involuntarily discharge” employees diagnosed with a mental health condition in the wake of an assault or other traumatic experience on the job.

    Examples cited in the report reveal a culture in which service members faced pervasive assault, harassment, sexism, racism and other discrimination. In one case, multiple witnesses saw a supervisor striking a subordinate but nobody came forward to report it because of fear of retaliation.

    Improving the Coast Guard’s culture would in some cases require “fundamentally different approaches,” the report concluded. The Coast Guard said this week it had enacted or partially enacted 60 of 129 recommendations, including additional training and additional support services for victims. Nine more are in the works, according to the Coast Guard’s statement agency, and the it “found better ways to achieve the desired result” for 20 others.

    The original report had also recommended that a new review be conducted every four years, but that did not happen. The Coast Guard said other studies of the workforce culture have been conducted instead.

    Recent government data and records, meanwhile, show that dangerous and discriminatory behavior is still rarely punished at the agency.

    Almost half of female service members who reported a case of sexual harassment said the person they complained to took no action, according to a 2021 military survey. Nearly a third said they were punished for bringing up the harassment. Meanwhile, the vast majority of women who allegedly experienced “unwanted sexual contact” said they chose not to report it, often citing concerns about negative consequences or that the process wouldn’t be fair and that nothing would end up coming of their allegations.

    Instead, records show how employees found to have committed serious wrongdoing have escaped court martial proceedings or military discharge. As a result, alleged perpetrators avoided criminal records and their retirement benefits were not affected.

    A cadet at the Coast Guard Academy accused of sexual assault by two different classmates in the 2019-20 school year, for example, was kicked out of the academy but allowed to enlist in the Coast Guard to pay back the cost of the schooling he had received. Around the same time, a lieutenant commander was allowed to resign in lieu of going to trial for military crimes including sexual assault and drunk and disorderly conduct. Even when another officer was found guilty at a court martial of abusing his seniority to “obtain sexual favors with a subordinate,” he received only a letter of reprimand.

    The Coast Guard did not comment on concerns that problems remain at the agency, or the statistics or examples cited by CNN.

    The limited access to the Culture of Respect has been a topic of contention for years within the workforce and even Congress.

    Fagan was asked about the report last year by Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman in a list of questions submitted as part of Congressional testimony. She criticized the agency for not releasing it publicly, saying this was “limiting the workforce and the public’s visibility into the problems that were identified and the recommended solutions.”

    Watson Coleman also pushed Fagan, who took the helm of the Coast Guard in June of 2022, to commit to completing a new study and releasing it to the public this time, but Fagan did not directly answer the question – instead citing other recent studies.

    More recently, Fagan was asked about releasing the report while attending a faculty meeting at the Coast Guard Academy. She was there following the Fouled Anchor debacle, promising more transparency when a captain who taught at the school called upon her to release the Culture of Respect report, according to multiple people who attended the meeting.

    Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman questioned US Coast Guard Commandant Linda Fagan shortly after she became the first female head of the agency in June 2022.

    Retired Coast Guard Commander Kimberly Young-McLear, who is a Black lesbian woman, has been perhaps the most vocal in requesting that the report be released.

    Her efforts to get the report disseminated stem from her own complaints about “severe and pervasive bullying, harassing, and discriminating behavior” based on her race, gender, sexual orientation and advocacy for equal opportunity in the Coast Guard.

    After filing a whistleblower complaint in 2017, the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General found that she had indeed faced unlawful retaliation. Yet to this day, none of the accused service members from her case have faced any consequences. Young-McLear said she has never received a written apology from Coast Guard leaders despite requests from Congress, and that the years of harassment and lack of accountability have taken a significant mental toll on her.

    She said she learned about the existence of the Culture of Respect report while she worked at the Coast Guard’s academy and that she was able to read it when she attended a small summit discussing its findings in 2019. She was outraged when she saw that it exposed the same issues she had reported.

    “Had the Coast Guard actually taken the 2015 Culture of Respect report results seriously… then perhaps the years of bullying, harassment, intimidation, and retaliation I endured could have been prevented altogether,” Young-McLear said in Congressional testimony at 2021 hearing on diversity and accountability within the Coast Guard, questioning why the report still hadn’t been made public.

    In the last four years, Young-McLear said she has asked for the report to be released more than two dozen times, to various admirals and to the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Coast Guard. A handful of other academy employees have made similar pleas at faculty meetings with the school’s superintendent, she said. “We’ve been saying it until we’ve been blue in the face.”

    The Coast Guard’s secrecy and inaction, she says, speak to the very same issues the Culture of Respect report and other examinations have repeatedly raised and show that the agency has failed to hold itself to task in the same way perpetrators have been let off the hook.

    “If we don’t hold individuals and institutions accountable,” said Young-McLear, “it is providing a safe haven for abusers and allowing them to rise through the ranks.”

    Do you have information or a story to share about the Coast Guard past or present? Email melanie.hicken@cnn.com and Blake.Ellis@cnn.com.

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  • Find the latest expert commentary on the recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions here

    Find the latest expert commentary on the recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions here

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    This Thursday, the United States Supreme Court rejected affirmative action at colleges and universities around the nation, declaring that the race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina were unlawful. Now on Friday, the Supreme Court decided to block the Biden administration’s student debt relief program and sided with a Christian web designer in Colorado who refuses to create websites to celebrate same-sex weddings out of religious objections. Despite their limited federal elected power, Conservatives have racked up more huge wins in the great political battles of the early 21st century.

    Newswise is your source for expert commentary. Below is a roundup of recent expert pitches concerning the United States Supreme Court.

    Sociologists Available to Discuss Affirmative Action Ruling in College Admissions

    – American Sociological Association (ASA)

    Law and diversity experts react to Supreme Court’s affirmative action decision

    – Tulane University

    Three important takeaways from SCOTUS decision in Groff v. DeJoy

    – University of Georgia

    SCOTUS decision on race-based admission: experts can comment

    – Indiana University

    U law expert available to comment on Supreme Court decision on affirmative action

    – University of Utah

    Recent SCOTUS decision puts to rest extreme 2020 presidential election claims, confirms state judicial input on states’ election rules

    – University of Georgia

     

     

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    Newswise

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  • Transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney says Bud Light didn’t support her during backlash

    Transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney says Bud Light didn’t support her during backlash

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    Transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney says she felt abandoned by Bud Light after facing “more bullying and transphobia than I could have ever imagined” over her partnership with the beer giant

    FILE – Dylan Mulvaney arrives at the 76th annual Tony Awards on Sunday, June 11, 2023, at the United Palace theater in New York. Transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney on Friday, June 30 she felt abandoned by Bud Light after facing “more bullying and transphobia than I could have ever imagined” over her partnership with the beer giant. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, file)

    The Associated Press

    Transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney says she felt abandoned by Bud Light after facing “more bullying and transphobia than I could have ever imagined” over her partnership with the beer giant.

    In a video posted Thursday to Instagram and TikTok, she said she “was waiting for the brand to reach out to me. But they never did.” She said she should have spoken out sooner but was afraid and hoped things would get better — but they didn’t.

    “For months now, I’ve been scared to leave my house,” Mulvaney said. “I have been ridiculed in public. I’ve been followed, and I have felt a loneliness that I wouldn’t wish on anyone.”

    A deluge of criticism and hate erupted soon after Mulvaney cracked open a Bud Light in an Instagram video on April 1 as part of a promotional contest for the beer brand. She showed off a can emblazoned with her face that Bud Light sent to her — one of many corporate freebies she gets and shares with her millions of followers.

    Conservative figures and others called for a boycott of Bud Light, while Mulvaney’s supporters criticized the beer brand for not doing enough to support her.

    In the weeks and months that followed, two marketing executives at parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev took a leave of absence, Bud Light lost its decadeslong position as America’s best-selling beer and the Human Rights Campaign, the country’s largest advocacy group for LGBTQ+ rights, suspended its benchmark equality and inclusion rating for the brewing giant.

    “For a company to hire a trans person and then not publicly stand by them is worse, in my opinion, than not hiring a trans person at all — because it gives customers permission to be as transphobic and hateful as they want,” Mulvaney said, without naming Bud Light.

    Belgium-based ABInBev didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment Friday.

    In an April 14 statement, Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth said the company “never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people. We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer.”

    Other companies, including Target and Starbucks, have recently come under fire for their efforts to appeal to the LGBTQ+ community, especially during June’s Pride celebrations, only to face more outcry when they tried to backpedal.

    The clashes come amid a furious and fast-spreading debate over the rights of transgender people. At least 17 states have enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming care for minors, most since the start of this year.

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  • Nintendo Switch Update Appears To Block Words Like ‘TERF’ and ‘Titler’

    Nintendo Switch Update Appears To Block Words Like ‘TERF’ and ‘Titler’

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    While the Nintendo Switch receives big, proper updates on a fairly regular basis, it also sometimes gets more quieter downloads, ones that take place without the user knowing or needing to do anything. Those updates tend to focus on the console’s ‘banned word list’.

    What You Should Know About Mario Strikers’ Big Free Update

    As we reported earlier in the year:

    Nintendo maintains a “bad word” list to prohibit Switch users from making accounts that reference certain phrases that might be considered controversial or offensive. In 2020 the list was updated to add “Nazi,” “Slave,” “KKK,” “ACAB,” and “Covid,” among others. Throughout 2022 it grew to encompass more slurs, rude language, and various misspellings of Hitler.

    In February, words like “ISIS”, the conservative catch-all “groomer” and the names of the Sandy Hook shooter were added as part of changes discovered and published by longtime Switch dataminer OatmealDome, who earlier today tweeted that the list had been updated yet again.

    “A rebootless update for 16.0.3 is out”, they wrote. “The sole changes are to the bad words lists. It appears Nintendo focused on blocking corruptions of the name Hitler (for example: “titler”, “hizzler”)“.

    It appears the word ‘TERF’ (trans-exclusionary radical feminist) has also been included, perhaps suggesting the delayed Switch version of Hogwarts Legacy is getting closer to release.

    Remember, this isn’t just a general list of words Nintendo don’t like, it’s specifically aimed at user account names, and so goes beyond just some rude, bad words. As OatmealDome points out in a follow-up:

    The bad words lists shouldn’t be seen as just a list of slurs. It contains everything from “stoner” to “covid” to actual slurs. I would interpret it as “lists containing words related to controversial topics that aren’t appropriate for games that minors might play”.

    If you’re wondering what other words the list contains, I’m glad you asked (especially if you’re a 10-year-old kid), because a selection of highlights include:

    • ballsack
    • bong
    • chatroulette
    • cocaine
    • jackass
    • semen
    • testes

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    Luke Plunkett

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  • Dealing With Workplace Intimidation? Here’s How to Fight It | Entrepreneur

    Dealing With Workplace Intimidation? Here’s How to Fight It | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Workplace intimidation is alive and well. Whether working remotely or on-site, employees continue to experience high levels of intimidation, often resulting in an environment made up of toxic behavior or bullying.

    The Workplace Bullying Institute (WBI) estimated that more than 48.6 million American employees experience some form of bullying at work. Additionally, the WBI survey found that around 30% of working adults have ongoing direct experience with bullying in the workplace, an increase of 57% between 2017 and 2021.

    While some business leaders might feel that being more assertive — or oftentimes, intimidating — will bring out a more submissive attitude in their employees, it often results in a working environment that is toxic for everyone and can lead to greater employee turnaround or lower productivity.

    Related: How to Deal With a Workplace Bully

    Bullying vs. intimidation

    Although the two terms might be closely related, for employees it’s important to differentiate between both and know how to act upon them when they are confronted with this sort of behavior.

    Bullying is often considered an act of domination. This is usually through using threatening gestures, whether it’s verbal, non-verbal, physical or even physiological.

    On the other hand, intimidation is defined as a deliberate act of frightening a person into doing something. This could be an employer threatening one of their employees with their job or withholding their wages if they are unable to finish a certain task or project, or do not agree with what they are being told to do.

    The lines are often blurred when it comes to differentiating between being bullied or intimidated. Nonetheless, in the modern workplace, professionals consider intimidation as a form of bullying, which can harm their performance and their relationship with their peers.

    Creating room for improvement

    Taking control of bad or negative workplace behavior is never an easy challenge, and confronting a person on their actions can often result in even more uncomfortable situations for employees, managers and employers.

    To put things into perspective, nearly 60% of American employers tend to react negatively when they find out that bullying is being reported in the workplace. The result is that perpetrators often don’t see the consequences of their actions, which in turn creates a sense of fear among those in the workplace.

    However, this creates a lot of room for improvement, and for employees that encounter bullying or intimidation regularly, there are ways they can reclaim their workplace relationships and take more action to hold their perpetrators accountable — even if it might be their boss.

    Related: Bullying Doesn’t Just Happen in Schools. Here’s How to Turn a Workplace Culture of Bullying to a Culture of Innovation

    Acknowledge the reality of the situation

    Take note of when intimidation occurs and realize that it might not be just a person’s personality or a clash of opinions. This is important both for employees that experience it or perhaps managers witnessing this behavior among team members.

    Make clear distinctions on whether or not a person is deliberately going out of their way to make other colleagues feel scared, threatened or uncomfortable. An action that is repeated multiple times shouldn’t be considered a coincidence, but can rather be seen as a choice to act in a certain way.

    Identify when or where it takes place

    Intimidation can be a physical threat or even something that might occur in an email or other forms of communication. If you become aware of when and where this might have taken place, you can start to take more note thereof.

    Make sure to keep a record of this, either on some notes on your phone or on a separate email account that is not linked to your work. Include as much information as possible, who was involved, what was being said and whether or not the issue has been resolved.

    Have an open dialogue

    Often employees tend to feel intimidated by things they don’t know, whether it’s having to deal with group projects, new programs or even a new colleague. Simply raising specific points with a person in an open dialogue can help resolve a lot of issues.

    If you can understand a person’s point of view and what they expect from you — in this case, either a manager or employer — you will get a better idea of where you need to make possible improvements or adjust your understanding going forward.

    Don’t directly accuse any person of being intimidating or call them out on their behavior. Rather see whether or not it’s possible to resolve the underlying conflict.

    Take action when needed

    Employees and teams need to know when to take action and what their options might be. Employees need to assess their options, whether it’s talking to a colleague, their manager or even HR. The same goes for those in upper management roles.

    Additionally, if an employee is being intimidated or bullied by a fellow peer or their manager, approach them in private and see whether or not you can assist them. Always use the available channels you have available to resolve any confrontation before it transcends into bigger problems.

    Evaluate workplace policies

    Most organizations will have policies in place that aim to prohibit the act of bullying in the workplace. Make sure that as an employee, you know what the workplace policies are in terms of this, and when it’s possible to identify if someone has stepped out of line.

    If there are no workplace policies, see whether or not you can bring this up with management or employers. There should be clear guidelines on how bullying or intimidation should be handled within the office.

    Find your voice

    There’s no harm in standing up to someone if you feel that they have crossed a certain boundary. Standing up for yourself isn’t easy, and it’s even harder to do so for other people, especially in the workplace.

    Not everyone can muster up the confidence to speak out when it’s needed. In these cases, keep a record of these particular instances, or perhaps approach a person to see whether or not there might be some unresolved problems that can be sorted out.

    To conclude

    Intimidation in the workplace only creates a toxic work environment for every employee. Having the courage to stand up to someone is not always an option for everyone, so it’s important to consider other possibilities that can help them find a viable solution to resolve workplace bullying.

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    Pierre Raymond

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  • Montana transgender Rep. Zooey Zephyr silenced by state House’s Republican speaker

    Montana transgender Rep. Zooey Zephyr silenced by state House’s Republican speaker

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    Helena, Mont. — Montana’s House speaker on Thursday refused to allow a transgender lawmaker to speak about bills on the House floor until she apologizes for saying lawmakers would have “blood on their hands” if they supported a bill to ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth, the lawmaker said.

    Rep. Zooey Zephyr, who was deliberately misgendered by a conservative group of lawmakers demanding her censure after Tuesday’s comments, said she would not apologize, creating a standoff between the first-term state lawmaker and Republican legislative leaders.

    Speaker Matt Regier refused to acknowledge Zephyr on Thursday when she wanted to comment on a bill seeking to put a binary definition of male and female into state code.

    “It is up to me to maintain decorum here on the House floor, to protect the dignity and integrity,” Regier said Thursday. “And any representative that I don’t feel can do that will not be recognized.”

    Regier said the decision came after “multiple discussions” with other lawmakers and that previously there had been similar problems.

    Democrats objected to Regier’s decision, but the House Rules committee and the House upheld his decision on party-line votes.

    “Hate-filled testimony has no place on the House floor,” Republican Rep. Caleb Hinkle, a member of the Montana Freedom Caucus that demanded the censure, said in a statement.


    Supreme Court declines to enforce West Virginia ban on transgender athletes

    01:28

    Zephyr said she stands by what she said about the consequences of banning essential medical care for transgender youth.

    “When there are bills targeting the LGBTQ community, I stand up to defend my community,” Zephyr said. “And I choose my words with clarity and precision and I spoke to the real harms that these bills bring.”

    zooey-zephyr.jpg
    A screengrab from the Montana Public Affairs Network’s live broadcast of an April 18, 2023 debate on the state House floor shows Rep. Zooey Zephyr addressing fellow lawmakers about a bill that would ban youth gender affirming medical care.

    MPAN


    Regier also declined to recognize Zephyr Thursday when she rang in to speak about another bill, which was unrelated to LGBTQ+ issues and seeks to reimburse hotels that provide shelter to victims of human trafficking.

    “The speaker is refusing to allow me to participate in debate until I retract or apologize for my statements made during floor debate,” Zephyr said.

    The issue came to a head Tuesday when Zephyr, the first transgender woman to hold a position in the Montana legislature, referenced the floor session’s opening prayer when she told lawmakers if they supported the bill, “I hope the next time there’s an invocation when you bow your heads in prayer, you see the blood on your hands.”

    She had made a similar comment when the bill was debated in the House the first time.

    House Majority Leader Sue Vinton rebuked Zephyr on Tuesday, calling her comments inappropriate, disrespectful and uncalled for.

    Later, the Montana Freedom Caucus issued its censure demand in a letter that called for a “commitment to civil discourse” in the same sentence in which it deliberately misgendered Zephyr. The caucus also misgendered Zephyr in a Tweet while posting the letter online.

    “It is disheartening that the Montana Freedom Caucus would stoop so low as to misgender me in their letter, further demonstrating their disregard for the dignity and humanity of transgender individuals,” Zephyr said in a statement Wednesday.

    Zephyr also spoke emotionally and directly to transgender Montanans in February in opposing a bill to ban minors from attending drag shows.

    “I have one request for you: Please stay alive,” Zephyr said then, assuring them she and others would keep fighting and challenge the bills in court.

    The legislature has also passed a bill stating a student misgendering or deadnaming a fellow student is not illegal discrimination, unless it rises to the level of bullying.

    At the end of Thursday’s House session, Democratic Rep. Marilyn Marler asked that the House majority allow Zephyr to speak on the floor going forward.

    “This body is denying the representative … the chance to do her job,” Marler said.

    Majority Leader Vinton, before moving for adjournment, said: “I will let the body know that the representative … has every opportunity to rectify the situation.”

    The House meets again Friday afternoon.

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  • How It Affects Their Emotions and Social Life

    How It Affects Their Emotions and Social Life

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    Puberty can be a tough time for any kid. But it might be harder on those with central precocious puberty (CPP). That’s when kids show signs of sexual maturity early. In general, CPP is when puberty starts before age 8 in girls and before age 9 in boys.

    Kids with CPP – which is more common in girls than boys – may start to develop years earlier than their friends. These physical and emotional changes can set them apart from their peers. If you or a child you care for has CPP, here are some ways the condition can affect their social life.

    Bullying

    Janet Lydecker, PhD, director of the Yale Teen POWER clinic and an assistant professor at Yale School of Medicine, says it’s never easy when children are out of sync with their peers.

    “Kids, unfortunately, can be mean,” she says. “And when someone stands out in any way, they tend to be a target for being bullied or teased.”

    Lydecker, a licensed psychologist, focuses on the treatment of adolescents with eating disorders and obesity, including those who deal with bullying. She says kids who develop early may go through all of the above. Older peers may sexualize kids who seem older than they are, particularly girls. That can raise the chances that they’ll face sexual abuse.

    Kids don’t always admit it if they’re being bullied. Here are some warning signs to watch for:

    Withdrawal. Your child may want to avoid certain places or spend more time alone.

    Anxiety about school. They may start to really dread going to school. If that happens, you can ask for support from a teacher or a nurse. “Anyone who can be an ally for the child,” Lydecker says. 

    Disordered eating. Kids may lose control while they eat if they’re dealing with a bully. They may binge on lots of food to “escape feelings of being different,” Lydecker says. “We also see purging behaviors as a desperate attempt to change the body to avoid being victimized.”

    Changing friendships. This isn’t always a sign something is wrong, but Lydecker says a sudden shift in relationships can be a red flag. 

    On the flip side, kids who go through puberty early might be bigger or stronger than their peers. They may become bullies themselves, Lydecker says, especially if they feel defensive.

    When Kids Can’t Be Kids

    A girl or boy who develops young may look older than their actual age. Jami Josefson, MD, an endocrinologist at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, says people may end up treating kids with CPP differently. For example, a family member might know your child is only 7. But if a kid looks 11, the adult might get on to them for not acting like “a big girl,” Josefson says.

    That can happen at school, too.

    “Teachers can unknowingly have higher expectations, even though the child is only [acting] the age that they should be,” Josefson says.

    You don’t need to get into the details of CPP. But Lydecker thinks you should still speak up for your child.

    “I really do advocate with parents that they say, ‘Well, she’s only 7.’ ”

    Snags With Sports

    If your child has their period, they’ll have to handle hygiene issues. Whether it’s swimming at camp or gymnastics practice, it could affect whether they take part in certain activities. Josefson says that can make them feel different than other kids.

    Alla Vash-Margita, MD, chief of pediatric and adolescent gynecology at Yale Medicine, says kids with CPP can use medication to suppress early puberty or periods. But there are other ways to help your child stay active with their friends, even if they have a monthly cycle.

    One choice is to teach your child how to use menstrual products like tampons. Or maybe your child just sits out practice every now and then.

    Whatever your family decides, Vash-Margita says it can be helpful to reach out to a school nurse or teacher to make sure that your child has support. 

    Check In With Your Child

    This may sound like a no-brainer, but it’s important to keep tabs on your child’s life. Lydecker suggests you do that every day. Maybe you have a chat when you get home from work or over a family dinner. She says you can also just come right out and say that you want to know if anyone or anything is making your child unhappy. Then offer to help them solve whatever problem comes up.

    But make sure they know you won’t do anything before talking to them first.

    Here are some other tips:

    Know what your child is doing online. One way to do this, Lydecker suggests, is to have your child use a computer that’s in a shared family room. And she says it’s a good idea to monitor what they do or say on social media and through text messages.

    Get outside help. It’s OK if you need extra support. “Just about any child psychologist works with parents just as much as they work with kids,” Lydecker says. These are experts who know how challenging it can be to deal with a child who’s not on the same emotional or developmental timeline as their peers.

    Team Effort

    Kids with CPP often have lots of people looking out for them. That may include:

    • Parents
    • Teachers
    • Pediatricians
    • Gynecologists
    • Therapists

    Let your child know they can reach out to you or another adult if they have any kind of issue.

    “Open conversation is always key,” Vash-Margita says.

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  • Louisiana jury awards $6.1 million to parents of LSU student who died in a hazing incident, attorney says | CNN

    Louisiana jury awards $6.1 million to parents of LSU student who died in a hazing incident, attorney says | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The parents of Maxwell “Max” Gruver — the Louisiana State University student who died in a 2017 hazing incident — prevailed in their wrongful death lawsuit and were awarded $6.1 million by a jury in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, this week, the family’s attorney, Jonathan Fazzola, told CNN.

    Max died on September 14, 2017, after an alcohol-related hazing ritual while pledging Phi Delta Theta, CNN has previously reported. He was 18.

    His death led Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards to sign into law a set of anti-hazing measures in 2018 that made hazing a felony.

    The civil lawsuit filed in a Louisiana court named several parties including the university, the national and local Phi Delta Theta organizations and others, Fazzola said.

    The jury awarded Steve Gruver and his wife, Rae Ann, $6.1 million Wednesday for the loss they suffered and for their son’s suffering in his final moments, Fazzola told CNN.

    The total monetary funds the family will receive are unclear since there were settlements that were reached previously with several parties named in the lawsuit, the attorney added.

    The jury’s award will allow the family to continue to honor Max by educating young people on the dangers of hazing through the Max Gruver Foundation, which was founded by the family “to make sure hazing-related deaths do not continue,” the family’s lawyer told CNN.

    In December, the Gruver family and LSU came to an agreement on an $875,000 settlement, which factors out of the $6.1 million award, according to Fazzola.

    CNN has reached out to LSU, the East Baton Rouge District Attorney and representatives for the fraternity for comment but did not immediately hear back.

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  • Students denounce bullying in New Jersey school district where teenager died by suicide | CNN

    Students denounce bullying in New Jersey school district where teenager died by suicide | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    At the first school board meeting in Bayville, New Jersey, since a 14-year-old student died by suicide days after being attacked by four classmates, administrators heard powerful commentary from current and former students who said they’ve been bullied without recourse from school district officials.

    Several current and former students approached the microphone at a Central Regional School Board of Education meeting Thursday, sharing their struggles with bullying at Central Regional High School in Berkeley Township.

    Some said they had experienced thoughts of suicide.

    “We’re scared to walk in the hallway,” one freshman told the school board. Another student said she has been called names she can’t repeat out loud.

    One student said she returns home from school feeling threatened.

    “My name is Danielle. I am also so many other names that people have called me over the years and you guys have done nothing,” that student said.

    Adriana Kuch, 14, was found dead in her Bayville home February 3, her father told CNN. Two days before her death, a TikTok video showed the freshman student being assaulted in a school hallway by a group of teenagers, prosecutors say. Michael Kuch believes his daughter died late at night on February 2, shortly after she sent her last text message at 10:46 p.m., he said.

    In the wake of Kuch’s death, four students at the high school were charged in connection with the attack, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said in a statement to CNN. The former superintendent of the school district, Triantafillos Parlapanides, resigned from his post Saturday, effective immediately, the district said in a statement on its website.

    The incident has sparked outrage among students and parents who say it reflects a culture of bullying in the district. The community is calling on school district officials to improve how it handles allegations of bullying.

    One student’s allegations of bullying at the high school were detailed in a lawsuit filed in October, CNN previously reported. The lawsuit claims a different 14-year-old girl was physically assaulted by two teenagers, one of whom had allegedly sent her threatening text messages in December 2021.

    The school district said in a statement days after Kuch’s death that it is “evaluating all current and past allegations of bullying” and will “undergo an independent assessment of the District’s anti-bullying policies and ensure every necessary safeguard is in place to protect our students and staff.”

    The attack on Adriana Kuch, who was walking with her boyfriend in the hallway at the time, was recorded on video and posted later that same day on social media platforms, including TikTok, which prompted a slew of hateful comments and online bullying that Michael Kuch said drove his daughter to take her own life.

    The video, obtained and reviewed by CNN, shows the freshman student being hit in the face with a water bottle several times. The footage shows Adriana was punched, kicked and her hair was pulled. Kuch says his daughter suffered bruising and blacked out for a short time as a result of the attack.

    Kuch has accused the school district of mishandling the attack. He says police should have been notified immediately and that his daughter should have been taken to the hospital.

    “I want this to stop happening to other kids,” Kuch previously told CNN. “This isn’t just my daughter. A lot of kids are facing this at school.”

    Hundreds of people were in attendance Thursday, including family members and parents, when School Board of Education President Denise Pavone-Wilson started the meeting, saying she wanted to begin the process of healing at school.

    The school board president said the board offered their “most sincere deepest sympathies to the family of our student, Adriana Kuch.”

    During the meeting, one student said their classmates have tried to “jump” them because of their sexual orientation and that photographs taken of them in school have been posted on social media.

    This student said they were suicidal and self-harmed in the past because of “things that happened to me in this school.”

    Kuch was remembered warmly by another student who described her as a “very sweet and kind girl” who helped her on her first day of school when she didn’t know anyone yet.

    Parents and family members also shared their emotional testimony at the meeting.

    One parent said food had been thrown at her daughter in a school cafeteria. Another woman, who said her niece was severely bullied at a high school in the district, asked why a student had to die by suicide for “us to hit rock bottom.”

    “It should have never gone there,” that woman said. “Rock bottom should have been the first time a student was bullied, and it should have been taken care of from that point on.”

    When Pavone-Wilson told attendees at the meeting that faculty and staff always had the “best interest of the students and their education at the forefront,” one person in the audience yelled out “not true” and applause followed.

    Then, amid jeering from the crowd, the board moved to officially appoint Dr. Douglas Corbett as the district’s acting superintendent following Parlapanides’s resignation. Some members of the audience shouted “resign” and “leave” as the motion to appoint Corbett passed.

    Shortly before the meeting began, Corbett said the circumstances of Kuch’s death “were disturbing and we share in the community’s shock.”

    New school district leadership is looking into a handful of initiatives, including retaining an outside party to examine the district’s policies and response to crises and creating a focus group of teachers and parents to handle the issues, according to Corbett.

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  • New Mexico State fires coach in wake of hazing allegations

    New Mexico State fires coach in wake of hazing allegations

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    New Mexico State fired basketball coach Greg Heiar on Tuesday in the wake of hazing allegations within the team that shut down the program for the rest of the season.

    Chancellor Dan Arvizu announced the firing of the first-year coach and said “hazing has no place on our campus, and those found responsible will be held accountable for their actions.”

    The chancellor said decisions about the rest of the coaching staff will be made after further investigation.

    Arvizu shut down the program for the season on Sunday, after reviewing a campus police report in which an Aggies player said three teammates ganged up on him and attacked him. The report, which redacted the names of the players, included allegations of false imprisonment, harassment and criminal sexual contact.

    The 47-year-old Heiar spent time earlier in his career as an assistant for former Aggies coach Chris Jans, who left after last season to coach Mississippi State. Last season, Heiar was at Northwest Florida State, where he helped the Raiders win the junior college national title.

    He brought two highly ranked players with him from the juco ranks, Issa Muhammad and Deshawndre Washington (another player, Marchelus Avery, had moved over from Northwest Florida the season before), but the Aggies were riddled with problems almost from the start of their season.

    It started unraveling when some basketball players were involved in a fight with New Mexico students at an Aggies football game in October.

    A month later, the night before New Mexico State basketball was scheduled to play at New Mexico in Albuquerque, forward Mike Peake went to the apartment complex of one of the students involved in the fight. Security cameras at the apartment complex shows the student pulling a gun, then Peake brandishing own gun and shooting the student, inflicting fatal wounds. Peake was taken to the hospital with leg wounds.

    Peake has been suspended from the team but not charged with a crime while authorities in Albuquerque investigate. New Mexico State has hired an independent investigator to look into the circumstances surrounding the killing.

    The hazing allegations came less than three months after the shooting in Albuquerque. The police report says the hazing victim described teammates removing “his clothing exposing his buttocks and began to slap his (buttocks). He also went on to state that they also touched his scrotum.”

    The Aggies were 9-15 when the season was first put on hold before a scheduled game last Saturday at California Baptist.

    The Western Athletic Conference is counting New Mexico State’s final six games as forfeits. The team is supposed to move into the bigger, more high-profile Conference USA next season — a move that seemed like a good fit for a program that has a long tradition of strong basketball teams. New Mexico State has made 26 trips to the NCAA Tournament and reached the Sweet 16 five times.

    But there have also been problems checkered throughout the history of a program that has long depended on juco transfers and players looking for second chances. An academic scandal in the 1990s brought about the quick end to the otherwise successful tenure of coach Neil McCarthy. It led to relative stability during the second of two long tenures in Las Cruces by coaching stalwart Lou Henson.

    Most of Henson’s successors, including Marvin Menzies, Reggie Theus and Jans, enjoyed success before leaving for bigger opportunities.

    There has been similar turnover in the administration. Just over the past 14 months, the university provost and president have resigned or been removed from their positions. And Arivzu, the chancellor, is on his way out in June after the regents declined to renew his contract. He said the school will investigate the hazing allegations.

    “We will work to ensure we fully understand what happened here, and that those found responsible are held accountable,” he said. “We will also ensure that support systems are in place to prevent this from happening again.”

    ___

    AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

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  • New Mexico State fires coach in wake of hazing allegations

    New Mexico State fires coach in wake of hazing allegations

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    New Mexico State fired basketball coach Greg Heiar on Tuesday in the wake of hazing allegations within the team that shut down the program for the rest of the season.

    Chancellor Dan Arvizu announced the firing of the first-year coach and said “hazing has no place on our campus, and those found responsible will be held accountable for their actions.”

    The chancellor said decisions about the rest of the coaching staff will be made after further investigation.

    Arvizu shut down the program for the season on Sunday, after reviewing a campus police report in which an Aggies player said three teammates ganged up on him and attacked him. The report, which redacted the names of the players, included allegations of false imprisonment, harassment and criminal sexual contact.

    The 47-year-old Heiar spent time earlier in his career as an assistant for former Aggies coach Chris Jans, who left after last season to coach Mississippi State. Last season, Heiar was at Northwest Florida State, where he helped the Raiders win the junior college national title.

    He brought two highly ranked players with him from the juco ranks, Issa Muhammad and Deshawndre Washington (another player, Marchelus Avery, had moved over from Northwest Florida the season before), but the Aggies were riddled with problems almost from the start of their season.

    It started unraveling when some basketball players were involved in a fight with New Mexico students at an Aggies football game in October.

    A month later, the night before New Mexico State basketball was scheduled to play at New Mexico in Albuquerque, forward Mike Peake went to the apartment complex of one of the students involved in the fight. Security cameras at the apartment complex shows the student pulling a gun, then Peake brandishing own gun and shooting the student, inflicting fatal wounds. Peake was taken to the hospital with leg wounds.

    Peake has been suspended from the team but not charged with a crime while authorities in Albuquerque investigate. New Mexico State has hired an independent investigator to look into the circumstances surrounding the killing.

    The hazing allegations came less than three months after the shooting in Albuquerque. The police report says the hazing victim described teammates removing “his clothing exposing his buttocks and began to slap his (buttocks). He also went on to state that they also touched his scrotum.”

    The Aggies were 9-15 when the season was first put on hold before a scheduled game last Saturday at California Baptist.

    The Western Athletic Conference is counting New Mexico State’s final six games as forfeits. The team is supposed to move into the bigger, more high-profile Conference USA next season — a move that seemed like a good fit for a program that has a long tradition of strong basketball teams. New Mexico State has made 26 trips to the NCAA Tournament and reached the Sweet 16 five times.

    But there have also been problems checkered throughout the history of a program that has long depended on juco transfers and players looking for second chances. An academic scandal in the 1990s brought about the quick end to the otherwise successful tenure of coach Neil McCarthy. It led to relative stability during the second of two long tenures in Las Cruces by coaching stalwart Lou Henson.

    Most of Henson’s successors, including Marvin Menzies, Reggie Theus and Jans, enjoyed success before leaving for bigger opportunities.

    There has been similar turnover in the administration. Just over the past 14 months, the university provost and president have resigned or been removed from their positions. And Arivzu, the chancellor, is on his way out in June after the regents declined to renew his contract. He said the school will investigate the hazing allegations.

    “We will work to ensure we fully understand what happened here, and that those found responsible are held accountable,” he said. “We will also ensure that support systems are in place to prevent this from happening again.”

    ___

    AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

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  • New UniSA-Teamgage initiative tackles workplace bullying from the ground up

    New UniSA-Teamgage initiative tackles workplace bullying from the ground up

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    Newswise — World-first research is at the heart of a new workplace bullying prevention program, launched today by the University of South Australia and Australian software business, Teamgage.

    The new program – Healthy Workplaces by Design – identifies and mitigates the root causes of bullying, extending beyond more obvious interpersonal triggers into psychosocial hazards, such as workplace environments, workload demands, and working practices.

    As a risk audit and prevention program it will help businesses meet new work health and safety (WHS) obligations to proactively risk manage psychosocial hazards, especially workplace bullying.

    About 1.1 million Australian workers experience serious workplace bullying, with 39 percent of mental disorder claims caused by workplace bullying, harassment, or violence.

    Psychological health and safety are foremost on the agenda of Australian WHS policymakers, statutory agencies, and peak bodies, particularly since Safe Work Australia published the Model Code of Practice: Managing psychosocial hazards at work.

    UniSA researcher Professor Michelle Tuckey says the UniSA-Teamgage partnership will deliver a risk management process that uses work redesign to prevent workplace bullying and other psychosocial hazards.

    “Every employer has a legal responsibility to provide a safe workplace, but there’s an increasing pressure for businesses to better manage psychosocial risks, including workplace bullying and sexual harassment,” Prof Tuckey says.

    “Workplace bullying already causes up to $36 billion of lost productivity in each year. And with Safe Work Australia recording a 75 per cent increase in the frequency of bullying claims over the past ten years, it’s a problem that is not slowing down.

    “The amended legislation will require businesses to proactively address workplace bullying (and other psychosocial risks) with the same rigour as physical health and safety hazards, which means they’ll need to go above and beyond administrative controls like policies and training.

    “The UniSA + Teamgage partnership will enable businesses to undertake a tailored risk audit of their workplace and generate specific recommendations, actions, and evaluations to remedy any concerns.

    “It shifts the emphasis from responding to interpersonal bullying behaviour, to proactively identifying and mitigating the root causes of bullying embedded within work environments.”

    Trialled across 85 sites, Healthy Workplaces by Design has proven results, including:

    • 34 per cent reduction in exposure to bullying behaviour
    • 46 per cent reduction in workplace bullying complaints
    • 73 per cent reduction in sexual harassment complaints.

    Teamgage CEO and Co-Founder, Noelle Smit, says the UniSA-Teamgage partnership will ensure people have safer, healthier workplaces, in Australia, and around the world.

    “Teamgage is committed to helping organisations deliver strategic outcomes by creating highly effective teams,” Smit says.

    “We achieve this by empowering teams to continuously improve how they work together, and a part of this is by ensuring a safe and healthy workplace.

    “For this to happen, we need organisations to be constantly alive to the risk of workplace harassment, toxic cultures and mistrust between staff and management – all of which can affect performance, customer outcomes, profit and most importantly people’s wellbeing.

    “We’re thrilled to be partnering with the University of South Australia to deliver the new Healthy Workplaces by Design program and look forward to delivering safe, healthy workplaces for all.”

     

     

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    University of South Australia

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  • New Mexico State players interviewed about alleged hazing

    New Mexico State players interviewed about alleged hazing

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    The chancellor at New Mexico State says players on the basketball team were interviewed by school personnel Saturday about an alleged hazing incident that led to the program’s suspension.

    In a letter to the school community, chancellor Dan Arvizu said he was “heartbroken and sickened to hear about these hazing allegations.”

    “Hazing is a despicable act,” he wrote. “It humiliates and degrades someone and has the potential to cause physical and emotional harm, or even death. Sadly, hazing can become part of an organization’s culture, if left unchecked.”

    He said the team, which arrived back in Las Cruces after its game at California Baptist was canceled, would remain under suspension until further notice.

    The letter came out a few hours after the school announced it would hold a closed meeting Tuesday night to “discuss limited personnel matters concerning individual employees.” It did not name the employees who were to be discussed.

    In announcing the virtually unheard-of midseason suspension of a Division I basketball program, the university put coach Greg Heiar and his staff on administrative leave pending an investigation into an alleged violation of university policy.

    “NMSU policy strictly prohibits hazing, in all forms, and it’s something we simply will not tolerate,” Arvizu wrote in the letter.

    A few hours before the letter came out, two Aggies, Shahar Lazar and Kent Olewiler, announced on social media that they were leaving the team.

    Neither player had played this season. This was shaping up as a redshirt year for Lazar, a freshman who came to Las Cruces from Israel. Olewiler also took a roundabout path to Las Cruces; he was a preferred walk-on who was not listed on the Aggies official roster

    Lazar said he was leaving because, “I don’t think the program that I originally committed to aligns with my beliefs and core values.”

    Olewiler said, simply, “my recruitment is 100% open.”

    The hazing allegations come nearly three months after the Nov. 19 fatal shooting in Albuquerque of Brandon Travis, a 19-year-old student from rival school, University of New Mexico. Aggies forward Mike Peake was suspended early in December while an outside investigator looked into his involvement in Travis’ killing. In the moments before the shooting, Peake suffered a leg injury and was later taken to the hospital by three of his teammates.

    Peake has not been charged in the case, which is also under investigation by the district attorney in Albuquerque.

    ___

    Associated Press reporter Jacques Billeaud contributed to this report.

    ___

    AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

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  • New Mexico State players interviewed about alleged hazing

    New Mexico State players interviewed about alleged hazing

    [ad_1]

    The chancellor at New Mexico State says players on the basketball team were interviewed by school personnel Saturday about an alleged hazing incident that led to the program’s suspension.

    In a letter to the school community, chancellor Dan Arvizu said he was “heartbroken and sickened to hear about these hazing allegations.”

    “Hazing is a despicable act,” he wrote. “It humiliates and degrades someone and has the potential to cause physical and emotional harm, or even death. Sadly, hazing can become part of an organization’s culture, if left unchecked.”

    He said the team, which arrived back in Las Cruces after its game at California Baptist was canceled, would remain under suspension until further notice.

    The letter came out a few hours after the school announced it would hold a closed meeting Tuesday night to “discuss limited personnel matters concerning individual employees.” It did not name the employees who were to be discussed.

    In announcing the virtually unheard-of midseason suspension of a Division I basketball program, the university put coach Greg Heiar and his staff on administrative leave pending an investigation into an alleged violation of university policy.

    “NMSU policy strictly prohibits hazing, in all forms, and it’s something we simply will not tolerate,” Arvizu wrote in the letter.

    A few hours before the letter came out, two Aggies, Shahar Lazar and Kent Olewiler, announced on social media that they were leaving the team.

    Neither player had played this season. This was shaping up as a redshirt year for Lazar, a freshman who came to Las Cruces from Israel. Olewiler also took a roundabout path to Las Cruces; he was a preferred walk-on who was not listed on the Aggies official roster

    Lazar said he was leaving because, “I don’t think the program that I originally committed to aligns with my beliefs and core values.”

    Olewiler said, simply, “my recruitment is 100% open.”

    The hazing allegations come nearly three months after the Nov. 19 fatal shooting in Albuquerque of Brandon Travis, a 19-year-old student from rival school, University of New Mexico. Aggies forward Mike Peake was suspended early in December while an outside investigator looked into his involvement in Travis’ killing. In the moments before the shooting, Peake suffered a leg injury and was later taken to the hospital by three of his teammates.

    Peake has not been charged in the case, which is also under investigation by the district attorney in Albuquerque.

    ___

    Associated Press reporter Jacques Billeaud contributed to this report.

    ___

    AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

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  • Family of student who died during 2021 hazing incident sues Delta Chi fraternity for $28 million | CNN

    Family of student who died during 2021 hazing incident sues Delta Chi fraternity for $28 million | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The family of a 19-year-old Virginia college student who died during a hazing incident in 2021 is suing the Delta Chi fraternity and several others for $28 million, according to a lawsuit filed Monday.

    Adam Oakes, a freshman at Virginia Commonwealth University, had been offered a bid to join the Delta Chi fraternity and had gone to a party to begin the initiation process on February 26.

    Oakes died during a “Big Brother ritual” where he was coerced to drink an entire bottle of Jack Daniel’s whiskey, leaving him “dangerously intoxicated,” according to the wrongful death lawsuit filed in Richmond Circuit Court.

    Other fraternity members took Oakes and the other pledges outside to throw up on the lawn, but Oakes did not throw up, according to the lawsuit. They then took him “back into the fraternity house and abandoned him on the floor,” the lawsuit states.

    The next morning, Oakes was pronounced dead at the scene, with a blood-alcohol content level of .419%, according to the suit.

    In the wrongful death lawsuit, obtained by CNN affiliate WTVR, 13 VCU Delta Chi chapter members are listed as those being involved in the hazing procedure.

    Eleven of them were charged in connection with the death of Oakes by the Richmond Police, CNN previously reported. All 11 were charged with unlawful hazing of a student and six were additionally charged with purchasing and providing alcohol to a minor in September 2021, according to Richmond Police.

    Of those 11, four have pleaded guilty, three have not entered a plea, two had their cases dropped, one pleaded no contest and one entered a different plea, according to court records.

    The Richmond Commonwealth Attorney’s Office told CNN that since several of the defendants charged in the case have pending court dates, the “rules of ethics and professional responsibility prevent” them from commenting on the case.

    The Delta Chi fraternity house at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia.

    According to the suit, the VCU Chapter of Delta Chi operates as an unincorporated association, but the incorporated arm has “the power to revoke the charter of the chapter, order that its activities cease and, in effect, deem the existence of the unincorporated association as being terminated.”

    “Unknown to Adam and his family, and known and never disclosed by Delta Chi or the VCU Chapter to Adam, is that the VCU Chapter has a long history of engaging in high-risk misconduct at VCU that resulted in VCU revoking its recognition in August 2018, and prohibiting its presence or activity at VCU, for a period of four years ‘due to serious health and safety concerns’ involving the VCU Chapter and its activities,” the lawsuit states.

    Despite this, the chapter’s legal counsel worked to reinstate the organization on campus, the lawsuit added.

    In statement shared with CNN Wednesday, Delta Chi’s International Headquarters for the Fraternity said, “Adam’s death and other tragedies in recent years make clear that fraternity members, organizations, and society continue to have more work to do.”

    “Hazing, the misuse of alcohol, and putting the health and safety of any person at risk has no place in Delta Chi,” the statement said. “The Fraternity continues to fund hazing prevention research, support meaningful anti-hazing legislation and provide member safety and hazing prevention education to Delta Chi chapters.”

    CNN has reached out to VCU and the Oakes’ family attorney for comment.

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  • What Is ‘Grey Rocking’? Use It This Holiday Season

    What Is ‘Grey Rocking’? Use It This Holiday Season

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Although the holiday season brings people together and can be a time to reconnect and enjoy the company of family, friends and colleagues, it can also be a time of great stress. This is especially true for introverts or those who are looking to avoid conflict. In a group of dynamic personalities, it’s just not always possible for everyone to get along.

    Sometimes spending a few hours with people can feel like a few weeks, and this dynamic is multiplied when there’s a narcissist in the group. They might seem well-intentioned, but deep down they thrive on creating chaos and conflict. Who wants to deal with that over the holidays?

    If this is an issue that you’ve dealt with in the past, or if you see yourself dealing with it in the future, it’s time to learn about “grey rocking.”

    Related: 3 Reasons Why Narcissists in Your Organization are Impossible to Evaluate

    What is grey rocking, and when can you apply it?

    Grey rocking is named after an object that most find boring. The concept is that when someone you are looking to avoid is interacting with you, try to become like a grey rock. Make yourself as uninteresting and dull as possible. This will be unappealing to someone with narcissistic traits, and they will move on to interacting with someone else at the gathering.

    Narcissists strive to interact with people who exhibit personality and are responsive to their demands. When someone exhibits themselves as a metaphorical grey rock, the narcissist will realize that they can’t manipulate the person because they hold no power over the dull personality that is being exhibited.

    The grey rock method is also useful against bullies, including those in the workplace.

    Related: The 4 Most Toxic People at Work—And How To Handle Them

    Does the grey rock method work?

    First and foremost, it’s important to understand that you can only control yourself. You will not change the narcissist or their outlook on life. However, this method can help you avoid them.

    If used properly, grey rocking will work for some time. In terms of avoiding narcissists and toxic people, the method is highly effective for all of the reasons laid out above. People who exhibit the negative characteristics of a narcissist or bully thrive on interacting with people who respond to their words, both visually and verbally, which allows them to manipulate their behavior. When someone is a grey rock, they aren’t interesting or exhibiting any of the feedback that these negative people want to achieve. This will make a narcissist miserable, and they will move on to someone else.

    However, it is also important to note that the grey rock method is not a cure-all. It is simply one method for avoiding toxic, negative people. The method can also become less successful if it is over-used.

    Related: How to Recognize and Work With Narcissistic Leaders

    What are some benefits of the grey rock method?

    When it comes to the holidays and interacting with family or coworkers, it’s just not possible to entirely avoid the people you might not speak to the other 11 months of the year. Therefore, grey rocking becomes useful in keeping the peace and avoiding conflict.

    Other benefits of grey rocking include less stress, less anxiety, feeling empowered, better emotional health, better mental health and realizing that you can set boundaries.

    What are some negative effects of the grey rock method?

    Even though grey rocking is a strategy meant to be used to avoid toxic people or uncomfortable and negative situations, there are some possible side effects of using the strategy.

    If used too much, grey rocking could lead to loneliness and withdrawal. Even though this is purposeful behavior, it does result in less interaction with people. This can lead to negative mental health consequences. It’s important to be mindful of this fact — too much isolation can result in loneliness and depression.

    And although grey rocking can be successful in moderation, if you use the strategy too often against the same person, they could realize what is going on. This could lead to the opposite effect of what you are looking for — the bully could realize they indeed do have power over your life because they’re forcing you to behave differently than you normally would.

    If you use the grey rock strategy and find that you are experiencing negative mental effects, make sure to seek professional help.

    Related: Your Narcissism Is Killing Your Employees’ Productivity. How to Avoid the Pitfalls.

    What if the grey rock method doesn’t work?

    There are several alternatives to avoiding people, conversations and situations a person doesn’t want to be in. The grey rock method is one strategy, but you can try other techniques as well.

    You could try to avoid the individual or group of people, though this will be especially hard during the holidays. If forced to be around the narcissistic individual, you could try setting clear boundaries for the conversation, being assertive and perhaps even being confrontational about the narcissist’s behavior if the situation calls for it.

    There are risks for these strategies as well, just as there are risks for using the grey rocking method. Use the strategy that you feel best suits your situation and the dynamic personalities that have to be dealt with this holiday season (and in the future).

    Related: How to Deal with a Toxic Coworker

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    Ryan Droste

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  • Boston Bruins rescind contract with Mitchell Miller after NHL deems him ineligible to play in league | CNN

    Boston Bruins rescind contract with Mitchell Miller after NHL deems him ineligible to play in league | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The Boston Bruins rescinded their contract with Mitchell Miller Sunday after the National Hockey League deemed him ineligible to join the team due to a bullying incident the player participated in when he was a young teenager.

    The decision is effective immediately, just days after the Bruins signed Miller to an entry-level contract on Friday. The about-face comes after the revelation of new information apparently related to a bullying incident that led to serious consequences when the player was in school.

    Miller at 14 was convicted in a bullying incident where he and another teenager were accused of tricking their Black classmate Isaiah Meyers-Crothers into eating candy that had been placed in a urinal, a report from the Arizona Republic revealed.

    Miller and another teen admitted to the bullying in an Ohio juvenile court and were sentenced to community service, according to the Republic.

    In explaining the decision to sign the now 20-year-old Miller in the first place, Boston Bruins president Cam Neely said the team had carefully considered the facts as they were aware of them, “that at 14-years-old he made a poor decision that led to a juvenile conviction.”

    “We understood this to be an isolated incident and that he had taken meaningful action to reform and was committed to ongoing personal development. Based on that understanding we offered him a contract,” Neely said.

    After new information came to light, the team decided it was in its best interest to rescind the opportunity. The team’s statement did not detail that information.

    “We hope that he continues to work with professionals and programs to further his education and personal growth,” Neely said.

    Neely also apologized to Meyers-Crothers and his family for the signing as well as to the members of the organization, fans, partners and the community.

    “To Isaiah and his family, my deepest apologies if this signing made you and other victims feel unseen and unheard. We apologize for the deep hurt and impact we have caused,” Neely said. “We will continue to stand against bullying and racism in all of its forms.”

    Neely added, “Finally, as a father, I think there is a lesson to be learned here for other young people. Be mindful of careless behaviors and going with the group mentality of hurting others. The repercussions can be felt for a lifetime.”

    On Saturday, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said the Bruins did not consult the league before signing Miller, calling what Miller did as a 14-year-old “reprehensible” and “unacceptable.”

    “He’s not coming into the NHL. He’s not eligible at this point to come into the NHL. I can’t tell you that he’ll ever be eligible to come into the NHL,” said Bettman while speaking at the NHL Global Series in Tampere, Finland.

    “So the answer is they were free to sign him to play somewhere else, that’s another league’s issue, but nobody should think at this point he is or may ever be NHL eligible. And the Bruins understand that now,” Bettman added.

    The Arizona Coyotes drafted him in 2020, and the team later withdrew its rights after the Republic’s report revealed the bullying conviction.

    CNN has reached out to Miller’s representation for comment and did not immediately hear back.

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  • Family of bullied Utah girl who died by suicide files claim

    Family of bullied Utah girl who died by suicide files claim

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    SALT LAKE CITY — The family of a Black fifth grader in Utah who died by suicide last year plans to file a $14 million lawsuit against her school, arguing that an inadequate response to reports of her being bullied over her race and disabilities led to her death by suicide.

    Attorneys representing Brittany Tichenor-Cox on Wednesday said they would seek damages for the 2021 death of her daughter, Isabella “Izzy” Tichenor. In a notice of claim, they said the school had violated state and federal laws, including those that require schools ensure equal treatment, provide educational opportunity and protect students experiencing homelessness.

    Notices of claim are required before people can sue government entities and the family’s claim said that the lawsuit will seek $14 million in damages. The notice of claim from Tichenor-Cox names Foxboro Elementary School in North Salt Lake City as a defendant, as well as its director and principal. It also names as defendants the Davis County School District, school board and superintendent. They have 60 days to respond before the family can file a lawsuit based on the claim.

    The school district did not immediately respond to request for comment.

    Tichenor’s death in November 2021 sparked massive outcry and a groundswell of anger over youth suicide, bullying and the treatment of children with autism. In Utah, a predominantly white state where incidents of racism in schools frequently make headlines, it prompted state legislators to pass a new law requiring districts to track reported bullying and racism in schools.

    The notice of claim recounts how Tichenor, who was autistic and the only Black student in her class, was bullied by students who said she smelled, made fun of her skin color, eyebrows and used racist slurs against her. It provides a timeline of Tichenor’s parents repeatedly alerting the school of bullying in the months leading up to their daughter’s death and alleges administrators did not take action to stop it.

    “As a result of this unchecked bullying and the school’s overall ‘deliberate indifference’ to minority students, Izzy failed nearly all her classes. At the time of her death, she could barely read or do math on a first-grade level,” it says.

    The Davis School District teaches roughly 73,000 students in Salt Lake City’s north suburbs. Only about 1% are Black. It was reprimanded last year by the U.S. Department of Justice for failing to address widespread racial discrimination and forced to as part of a settlement agreement change its policies, offer more training and establish a new department to handle complaints.

    The district defended its actions last year after Tichenor’s death, arguing it had responded to Tichenor’s family appropriately and “worked extensively” with them over their complaints.

    ——

    Brady McCombs contributed reporting from Salt Lake City.

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  • BFI Inclusion Chief To Spearhead New Film And TV Anti-Bullying Body

    BFI Inclusion Chief To Spearhead New Film And TV Anti-Bullying Body

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    The U.K.’s new anti-bullying body for film and TV – The Independent Stands Authority (ISA) – has appointed its interim CEO in the BFI’s current director of culture and inclusion, Jen Smith.

    The new organization has confirmed financial support from major U.K. broadcasters in the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, as well as Sky.

    The specific remit of the entity will be formalized and announced for a planned 2024 launch with an eye to also widening the reach of its authority by also overseeing other industries such as music, theater, fashion, and advertising.

    Smith, who is seconded at ISA until a permanent CEO has been found, said that the organization will “have the power to lead investigations and will do so without fear or favor.”

    Smith has been on a trajectory to do more in this area for some time now. As recently as last year she helped head an action list with BAFTA and several other companies across media and entertainment to help prevent racism, bullying, and harassment in the workplace.

    “For too long the creative industries have failed to provide an independent place for people to report experiences of poor behavior, bullying and harassment,” Smith said. “The establishment of the ISA will be transformative in helping address this void. We know we are standing on the shoulders of many who have made significant efforts to drive positive change to improve our workplace culture and will continue to build on this courageous leadership.”

    Brandy Ferrer, CEO of Pathfinder Strategies, an organization set up for consultancy on HR-related matters for companies as well as ethics and leadership stated that it’s “certainly needed” in the industry in the wake of multiple and consistent scandals being revealed.

    “If there’s any industry that needed a body like this it would be the entertainment industry,” she said. “Hearing the horrific stories about Harvey Weinstein and others showed that there has been a lack of fear in being accountable for executives and high-level talent, as well as a clear lack in the understanding of professionalism in a work environment.”

    “It’s very easy to work in the entertainment industry and to feel that the rules of an office don’t apply because of work on sets or stage and the creative nature of the sector. The ISA will help make sure that the rules apply to everyone irrespective of standing, stature, or circumstance.”

    The other element that Ferrer opined on was leadership. Commenting that Pathfinder teaches that leadership often comes from the top and trickles down, and that leadership must be strong and have a zero-tolerance policy for bullying in all forms whilst fostering a healthy environment.

    “Accountability is key. When something gets off track, before looking around for someone or something to blame, take a look at yourself. Ask yourself, ‘was I clear on expectations?’, ‘Did I do a good job supporting this person on this project?’ ‘Did I ask questions to check for understanding?’ ‘What could I have done better or differently for a different outcome?’

    “We’re all humans. Not one of us is perfect. Not one of us is infallible. Have grace with yourself. Have grace with others.”

    “Great leadership equals managing the work positively and empowering people to make the right decisions.”

    On the task that the ISA has to accomplish in helping to fix the issues the industry has, Ferrer concluded that it’s not just putting out fires and holding people accountable, but also fire prevention and teaching people the right way to do things.

    “These were the circumstances I was dealing with when I quit my corporate job and founded Pathfinder Strategies. I witnessed first-hand the impact of great leadership and healthy cultures. I loved going to work, the people I worked with were hard-working and goal-focused, I had a hand in innovating products and processes, and I got to shine and grow and advance in my career. I also experienced ineffective leaders and toxic cultures. Working in environments full of suspicion, lacking communication and accountability, which ultimately led to subpar outputs.”

    She added: “I knew cultivating healthy cultures and great leaders did not have to be a big expensive undertaking, but rather could be addressed incrementally with guidance, support and practice.”

    Founded in partnership with the BFI, BAFTA, Time’s Up U.K. and its chair Heather Rabbatts, the ISA hopes to answer the persistent call for a body to help prevent conduct breaches throughout the world of entertainment.

    Rabbatts said of Smith that she had been, “so important in leading the work on the prevention of harassment and bullying with industry partners over recent years.”

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    Josh Wilson, Contributor

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