What is Bullying?

• Unwanted aggressive behavior toward another person or group of people

• Leads to the belief that there is an actual imbalance of power

• It is often repetitive in nature

What is Cyber Bullying?

Cyber bullying is bullying that takes place with the use of different kinds of technology and social media. It can be used on various sorts of devices such as computers, cell phones, ipads, and tablets. It often occurs through the use of social media sites such as Facebook or Twitter. However, it also happens through texting, online chatting, and other various forms of communication. It is done to inflict emotional pain and degrade another person or persons.

Examples of Cyber Bullying

• Sending mean or inappropriate text messages and emails

• Posting embarrassing pictures of someone else online for others to see

• Starting or perpetuating degrading rumors about another person

• Creating a fake profile of someone that contains inaccurate information

• Impersonating the victim online by sending derogatory, degrading, or controversial messages which causes others to respond negatively to the victim

• Harassing the victim during a live chat

• Encouraging others to send the victim threatening e-mails or to overwhelm the victim with offensive e-mail messages

How to Prevent/Stop Cyber Bullying

• Refuse to pass along cyber bullying messages

• Be cautious about giving access to your personal accounts, emails, and phone numbers

• Encourage friends to stop cyber bullying

• Block communication with cyber bullies

• Report cyber bullying to a university official

• Ignore the messages

• Do not retaliate; that could only make the situation worse.

• Deactivate social media accounts and/or change cell phone numbers and email addresses

How can Student Conduct help?

Cyber bullying violates the following provision of the Student Code of Conduct, which can be found online in Section III, Prohibited Conduct, of the Student Code of Conduct.

Harassment, Threats, and Bullying: Persistent, severe, or pervasive verbal abuse, threats, intimidation, harassment, coercion, bullying, or other conduct which threatens or endangers the mental or physical health/safety of any person or causes reasonable apprehension of such harm.

File a Report

A complaint of a crime should be filed with the Student Conduct Office as soon as possible, preferably within 180 calendar days of the incident. To submit a report of any concerning behavior or to allege that the Code of Conduct has been violated, submit a complaint online . You can also file a complaint in the Student Conduct Office. You can meet with a staff member by contacting them at 918-594-8234 or by stopping by 204 North Hall.

Request a No Contact Order

We can assist you in completing a No Contact Order between you and the accused. This would prohibit contact between you and the accused through any means of communication. This would also prohibit having others contacting you on behalf of the accused.

How to Represent Yourself on Social Media

• Represent yourself professionally – would you want a future employer to see what’s out there

• Be aware of not only what you have posted but what others have as well – make sure there are not any embarrassing or inappropriate pictures of you, etc.

• Remember that once it’s out there, it is out there for good – think to yourself if you would be happy about reading a post or seeing a picture ten years from now

• Use your privacy settings – check them regularly to make sure the only people who are seeing your pages are those you approve of

• Note that the internet is not a private place – make sure you are represented in a way that you are proud of and do not have to regret later