Dear Editor,
Recently, there has been a video of a young girl dancing on a bench at the AntiguaState College. This girl has been facing severe bullying and harassment from a large number of students at the institution.
Such incidents of bullying and harassment include jeering, stalking, cyberbullying, threats and unsolicited photos and videos taken of her.
She has made several complaints to the administration who has done little to nothing to address the issue. For the purpose of this letter, I’ll refer to her as “L”; She has explicitly authorized the use of the events in this article, as well as the attached evidence.
In a former incident taking place in the first semester, L had been harassed by a group of students, who were mocking and filming her as she walked by.
L immediately reported the matter to administration, but the outcome was unproductive. The Admin asked the group of students if they committed the offence to which, unsurprisingly, they denied.
The admin claimed that apparently, “they possessed no authority to search student’s phones.” And the matter was subsequently dismissed.
Leading up to the viral video being filmed, L was sitting on said bench when a group of students (differing from the first group mentioned in the previous incident) had begun to verbally harass her, unprovoked. She began recording the bullying to collect evidence.
Immediately, a particular student from the group got in L’s face, and shouted “You have a problem?”, then proceeded to yank her phone from her hand, and placed it on the bench. L took her phone off the bench, and continued to record the incident.
The same student, once again, ragged L phone from her hand and did not return it. During the commotion, several staff members were present yet no action was taken by any of them to quell the situation.
Frustrated and angered, L turned to the by-standing staff and asked “should I just start dancing?”, and began dancing on top of the bench.
L is a beautiful, talented, intelligent and expressive soul. Additionally, She’s quite the introvert, preferring solitude, especially when on campus. She, like any other student, deserves to complete her tertiary education in a safe and comfortable environment.
No person should have to endure bullying and/or harassment under any circumstance, let alone a young girl such as L. Bullying has severe side effects, including lifelong trauma, low self-esteem, anxiety, depression, self-harm and suicide. If there had been more
care and urgency from the school, these incidents could’ve been avoided all together.
There are several ways in which the administration could have addressed these instances of bullying. Possible solutions include diligence in identifying and tackling bullying and harassment, enforcing stricter policies against bullying and preparing Anti– Bullying campaigns to be presented to students regularly.
It is disheartening that the issue has only been seriously addressed due to the video of L going viral. Is this the necessary approach one must take for bullying to be considered a serious matter by the majority?
Signed,
Kay.
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Raise your hand if you expect the ASC to do anything about this.
The question is where are the parents of those bullies, Who raised them? You will find that the parents are either absent or dont care or are bullies themselves!
This is ridiculous, one of my cousin who goes state college say they doing that girl badly . I pray she gets help . This bullying needs to stop
Are you a student?…….This girl has been showing signs of deranged behavior and tendencies no one was actively bullying her on campus quite frankly persons were scared that she would lash out at them so unless you have official proof plz stop trying to play detective and go touch some grass
These are some of the reasons why young ppl are going missing…..yall better talk to your kids.
I will encourage the victim, to report the matter to the police. Bulling is constitute a crime in Antigua according to the The Electronics Crimes ACT 2018 (AMENDMENT) ACT 2018
No. 25 of 2018
Are you a psychologist? The lack of compassion in your post is quite telling.
And if a relative shows up and handles a few bullies???
Are we surprised? These children who are doing the bullying are most times raised by bullies and they are repeating the pattern of behavior seen at home. These same adults are the type who bullying co-workers. Having experienced it first hand I know how hurtful bullying can be, especially when the bully lies through their teeth and the company would rather turn a blind eye to save their collective face. One thing is certain is that God is not an old man in the sky, He is a real God who deals with wickedness in very real ways and those who choose to give in to the demons driving them and purposely make someone else’s life miserable, or try to, never end up well because WHAT YOU SOW YOU SURELY REAP. They may feel like they will continue to get away but it’s certain, the end result is certain. It never ends well for these types of persons. Guaranteed!!!!!
@sense maker, you seem to be a rass. It says she recorded the incident and because she did so a student took her phone????? But no one was bullying her?? Ok dunce
@Sense maker
You are one of the bully and I hope your karma comes before the sun rise
ASC LUCKY ANNA FU ME PICKNEY. BECAUSE ME WOUDDA KETCH THE NEXT FLIGHT FROM SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA TO ANTIGUA AND PUT ONE ONE RA$$ING PAN ANYONE TROUBLE ME PICKNEY. WHEN ME DONE DEM CAN CARRY ME AH JAIL..ME HA MORE THAN ENOUGH MONEY FO BAIL!! DEM NO MESS WID THE RIGHT SMADDY PICKNEY!!!!
Please. They have parents. As soon as the victim retaliates and something happens all of a sudden the parents crawl out of the woodworks all lawyered up and everything.