WHAT WE KNOW:
On Jan. 22, a presently undefined event, categorized by most media outlets as “bullying” or “hazing,” occurred on the team bus coming home from a men’s basketball game. On Feb. 15 the CHS administration was made aware of the incident. Although the formal investigation is still underway, according to officials, additional instances of bullying, not dissimilar to what transpired on that bus ride home, are being looked into.

WHAT WE WONDER:
These facts may leave students here with many questions; some of those specific questions may be answered in the coming weeks in regard to the men’s basketball team. But some larger questions remain. Namely, what is bullying? Who defines it? What should students do if they witness bullying or are victims of it themselves?

The answers aren’t as easy as they seem…

By Rosemary Boeglin
<[email protected]>

DEFINING BULLYING

…Just ask Jane Wildman. She should know. Wildman, a social worker here, has had training in ways to address instances of bullying through the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, a well-known program in the United States, and has also participated in several other training programs throughout the state.

While she did not speak specifically about the recent case involving the men’s basketball team, she did speak in general terms. Wildman said that what is and is not bullying can be difficult to determine in a given situation. Although, the Olweus definition states that “a student is being bullied when he or she is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more students.”

A recent study conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice found that the percentage of children ages 2 to 17 that reported being physically bullied over the past year has declined from 22 percent in 2003 to under 15 percent in 2008, however, reports of hazing and bullying on sports teams are still being reported.

As recently as Feb. 4, Illinois’ Prairie Ridge High School’s wrestling team was under investigation for widespread physical bullying. According to NBC, the harassment charges included allegations that some wrestlers participated in restraining teammates to repeatedly smack their stomachs and, other times, grope their “private areas.”

In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Hank Newur, an assistant professor at Franklin College and author of four books on hazing, said the broad definition of bullying is maddening. Because bullying can encompass such a wide range of behaviors, from “putting on silly clothes to sodomy,”

it is difficult to pinpoint it, according to Newur.

While instances, such as what occurred at Prairie Ridge High School, may clearly violate school rules and state laws, the precursors to serious and violent bullying are not always black and white. Many practices that share a great deal with hazing rituals and bullying are harmless, and picking out those practices that cross the line is often difficult, according to Wildman.

Wildman said that while determining whether something falls under the term “bullying,” students should follow one easy rule: “Try to put yourself in the other person’s shoes,” she said. “If you see something you know is inappropriate, you really need to report it. Everyone has a different sense of morals and what is right and wrong. Bottom line, (students) should do what they know is ethically or morally the right thing.”

Wildman went on to say, though, that there is not always a concrete way for students to identify bullying when they see it. “There’s no way to say ‘this is bullying and this isn’t.’ There is a gray area,”

she said.

HOLDING THE LINE BETWEEN BONDING AND BULLYING

Colleen Thomas, cross-country runner and senior, said the women’

s cross-country team is like a family. According to Thomas, everyone on the team participates in and promotes spirit days and activities.

“When I was a freshman the Friday before State (meet), we had a big breakfast at a senior captain’s house. We all wore our cross-country shirts and got Saran Wrap skirts. We keep doing it every year,”

she said.

The women’s cross-country team is far from the only group of athletes here that participates in team rituals or dress-up days. The members of the men’

s swimming team take their rituals up a notch by dying and shaving their hair leading up to the State meet.

And while team members aren’

t required to participate, Charles Williams, a member of the Carmel Swim Club for 10 years and senior, said that not participating in the tradition leads to scrutiny from other members of the team.

“We get mad and just don’t think as much of them. It’s not that we don’t include them as much, we just kind of think less of them,” Charles said. “It’s like we’re all looking like fools and you’re the only one who isn’t.”

Chris Plumb, head coach of both the men’s and women’

s swimming and diving teams here, said that activities such as hair dying and shaving help to build up the team and do not cross the line of bullying.

“A simple distinction (between hazing and team-building) is when a team member is expected to do something that all of the athletes are willing to do at that moment, then generally it is team-building,” Plumb said via e-mail. “If it is an activity that only certain groups, i.e. freshmen, rookies, etc., are expected to do, then it is hazing. The hair dying and shaving traditions are good examples as all of the guys participate; it is not something that is to be endured by a select few. It also creates a sense of shared identity of team members within the school and community.”

Plumb added that while he feels the activities the teams do together play a crucial role in their success, it is the way team members treat one another regularly that is most important and closely monitored.

That’s not to say that some athletes haven’

t experienced some form of hazing. Charles said that while this year there is no hazing on the team, in past years there has been some.

“We weren’t really bullied,” he said, “but (the upperclassmen) were rougher with the underclassmen than we are. But everyone was still friends. It taught me they had seniority over me and to treat them with respect. This year we don’t have as much control over the kids, which isn’t good.”

Although these activities may be viewed as harmless, Nuwer said they can turn ugly in a heartbeat and can escalate in a single year with a single suggestion. This is not to say, though, that hazing just happens out of nowhere. Nuwer said experts generally agree the culture and general atmosphere on a team does much to determine the likelihood that bullying and hazing will or won’

t occur.

Because hazing does not occur spontaneously, Wildman said there are ways to monitor behavior to prevent the escalation of bullying.

“There should be continual awareness of activities in the halls, classrooms, locker rooms, etcetera. The staff should talk about it,” she said.  “

Everybody should be more aware of what is happening around them.

TEAM LOYALTY V. MORAL COMPASS

Wildman said that if a student witnesses or is being bullied they should talk to an adult, whether the dean, a counselor, a coach or an official such as herself. In short, they should report it to someone.

“We can’t help them if we don’t know about it,”

Wildman said. But in neither the football team hazing incident nor the incident at this school did a team member or victim approach an adult, parent or coach about the bullying.

Principal John Williams said it was the mother of a Carmel High School student who had no connection to the team, who brought the incident to the school’

s attention.

And that’

s not unusual.

The 2003 Sports Illustrated feature recounted the extreme physical and sexual harassment that occurred on a New York high school football team during summer training. Although members of the junior varsity team expected to be hazed, medical attention was necessary for some and the story was eventually uncovered.

It was not the victims, though, who reported the incidents. According to the article, these students felt ashamed, embarrassed and threatened with additional violence. Rather, it was the doctor who treated a player for an injury related to the hazing who ultimately made authorities aware of the incident.

Wildman also said, though, that the degree of difficulty in coming forward with information about bullying varies from person-to-person. According to the Sports Illustrated article, most incidents of hazing or bullying are unreported because of the victims’

fears of reprisal or isolation for revealing the abuse committed by their teammates.

Additionally, high schools can be the site of especially malicious hazing. Because most bullies or hazers in high schools would be legal minors, and because of a lack of maturity, hazing can be unusually intense there, according to the article.

BE IN THE KNOW

Still, athletes like Charles said that he and other members of the swim team know how to keep bullying in check.

“As a whole we know the fine line of what is bullying,” he said.  “If we see a teammate or senior bullying, we tell them to quit it because we’ll all get in trouble. If one of us bullies we all get in trouble for it.”

Holding one another accountable for activities and attitudes, as Williams said the men’

s swimming team does, is an additional way to reign in bully-like behavior.

“Most, if not all, of the time students hide these activities,” she said. “They don’t (bully) when a staff member will see it because they don’t want to get caught,” she said. “Things go on that staff members cannot always see or be aware of.”