The concept that educated people do not have the tendency of bullying and are likely to think rationally, is not really true. If we get a peek inside the academic world we will see that many postdoctoral researchers, PhD candidates and others have been bullied during their academic career. People often casually bully their colleagues and see nothing wrong in that. Moreover they expect to be taken lightly and when the opposite happens, the bullied person is considered not ‘sporty’ enough. Besides answering to journal call for paper and preparing your research work, creating a healthy research environment is also part of a researcher’s responsibility. It is high time that we address this issue and take effective steps against it. Let’s talk about a few ways in which we can eradicate bullying for good.
1. Policies to Handle Abuse –
Being bullied is never a good experience. The stress and anxiety level in the academic world is already quite high and bullying makes that even worse. People often try to handle it by staying quiet and not complaining to the authorities thinking that it will die down eventually but that almost never happens. An academic environment needs to be safe and institutions must understand that; therefore all institutions must have strict and clear policies against bullying.
2. Ceasing Attempts of Career Sabotage-
Many careers have been sabotaged because of personal bias. Not giving promotion to a certain employee because of some previous tiff, choosing someone less capable over a good performer because of personal ties. Forming lobbies and harassing those who do not belong in that, all these issues lead to career sabotage. Most academicians has suggested institutions to implement measures to promote equality and prevent harassment, discrimination, and bullying.
3. Take Stock of Your Own Behaviour-
Some ideas are so deep-rooted inside the society and our minds that we do not even analyse those anymore. We often casually make fun of someone. But what we consider a harmless banter or a humorous joke can be extremely disrespectful for the one on the receiving end. Often, we do not know where the “line” is until we have crossed it. And charity begins at home; we must change ourselves first, only then can we expect a better academic world.
4. Take Action against Physical Sabotage-
If you find your mentor or superior making you waste your time and money for an experiment that looks almost perfect, consider it physical misconduct. Do not allow one to make you keep re-doing your work without any valid reason.
5. Stop Accepting Irrational Deadlines-
There are many instances of superiors setting impossible deadlines for a targeted work and when the deadline is not matched, using that as a pretext for abuse, harassment and bullying. If you ever feel like you are given an impossible deadline, do not hesitate to speak your mind. And if you are one of the superiors, make sure that you practice what you preach; put yourself in the other person’s position and think whether you would have done it within that time bracket.
6. Do Not Agree upon Mobbing-
This is something that is prevalent in the academic world and the people outside it have no idea. Once you come inside the academic territory, you will find people ganging up on each other and mobbing. The best way to stop it is by avoiding being a part of it. And if you are one of the victims of mobbing, feel free to talk about it out loud. It takes one person to take active steps against things like these to end it completely.
7. Stand Up for Others-
You are not safe if the ones around you are not safe. If you witness someone else being bullied or harassed and see the feeling ashamed or scared to talk out loud about these issues, talk to them and convince them to take effective actions against.
Bullying is not something new. It has been there since the dawn of civilization. But now it is time for this to end. And this end will never come if we keep tolerating everything with a smiling face. No, it was not ‘just a joke’, you are not ‘uncool’ just because you did not take it as a ‘funny gag’. Sometimes it is good to show some teeth. Remember that “There’s no justice in the world. Not unless we make it.”
