Bullying sometimes continues into adulthood

Del Mar, however,
has had no cases
in the past year

John MuguerzaReporter

Bullying can happen anywhere, anytime and to anyone, as evidenced by a recent high-profile scandal.

On Oct. 28, a man who stands 6-foot-5, weighs over 300 pounds and had a four-year contract worth $4.78 million was allegedly bullied so much he had to leave his workplace and check himself into a hospital because of an apparent mental breakdown. That man was NFL player Jonathan Martin, an offensive tackle for the Miami Dolphins.

Martin, considered by many to be a successful and smart 24-year-old, is a Stanford University graduate and was a second-round pick in last year’s NFL draft. Martin’s parents are both lawyers with degrees from Harvard.

The alleged bully was his own teammate Richie Incognito, who was later suspended indefinitely by the team while the NFL conducts its own investigation. Martin claims the bullying has been going on since his first day with the team, according to NFL.com reporter Ian Rapoport.

On Sept. 22, 2010, Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi committed suicide after learning that his college roommate, Dharum Ravi, and fellow student Molly Wei allegedly used a webcam to record and live-stream Clementi’s sexual encounter with another man in his dorm room.

According to abcnews.com, Ravi was found guilty of numerous crimes and received a 30-day jail term and three years’ probation, and was ordered to complete 300 hours of community service and attend counseling programs for cyber-bullying and alternative lifestyles.

A recent study found that 42 percent of college students said they had seen someone being bullied by another student, 8 percent reported bullying another student, nearly 15 percent had seen a professor bully a student and 4 percent said they had been bullied by a professor, according to medicinenet.com.

“We got into looking at college students and bullying, because it doesn’t just stop when they turn 18,” said Christine MacDonald, a professor of educational and school psychology at Indiana State University.

At Del Mar College, there have been no reported cases involving bullying in the past year, according to Dr. Emilia O’Neill-Baker, a counselor at Del Mar.

“Fortunately … we have not had a problem of students being bullied,” O’Neill-Baker said. That might be because most people grow out of bullying and because many who attend Del Mar have jobs and families, she said.

O’Neill-Baker said the best way to stop a bully is to confront the bully and tell him or her how you’re perceiving their behavior and you would like it to stop. If that doesn’t work find a person of authority such as a professor or supervisor and make them aware of the situation, she said.

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