Of Faculty Epub: Academic Violence And Bullying

Institutionally, the consequences are equally dire. Toxic departments suffer from high turnover rates, leading to a loss of institutional memory and the significant financial costs of repeated recruitment searches. Furthermore, a culture of bullying corrupts the educational mission. Faculty who are preoccupied with surviving a hostile work environment have less emotional and intellectual capacity to invest in students. When students witness or hear of faculty mistreatment, it undermines the credibility of the institution and teaches the next generation of scholars that abuse is an acceptable method of conflict resolution.

To understand the scope of the problem, one must first define the terminology. While "bullying" typically refers to repeated, health-harming mistreatment of one or more persons by one or more perpetrators, "academic violence" is a broader, systemic concept. It encompasses not only direct interpersonal aggression but also structural and symbolic violence. This includes the "slow violence" of precarious employment, the weaponization of bureaucratic procedures, and the normalization of exclusionary practices. In the academic context, bullying is often disguised as "rigorous critique" or "academic freedom," making it difficult to identify and prosecute. It manifests as shouting and verbal abuse during departmental meetings, the deliberate withholding of resources or information, exclusion from decision-making processes, and the systematic sabotage of a colleague’s career trajectory. academic violence and bullying of faculty epub

One of the most insidious forms of academic violence occurs within the structures of shared governance. Faculty senates and departmental committees, theoretically designed for democratic participation, often become arenas for toxicity. Bullies in positions of power can manipulate committee assignments, distort minutes of meetings, and utilize "mobbing"—a collective form of bullying where a group turns against a single target to force them out. Institutionally, the consequences are equally dire