Bullies Beware
This week, the American Jewish Committee and the First Amendment Center released a helpful guide for school administrators in regards to bullying and harassment titled “Harassment, Bullying, and Free Expression: Guidelines to Safe and Free Public Schools.” The Hindu American Foundation, along with 16 other organizations, endorsed the guide, which attempts to give “clarity to school administrators under pressure to curb bullying and harassment,” according to Education Week. While the guidelines give approaches to separate free expression from harassment in schools, they also reinforce the need for school administrators to make sure their campuses are safe for all of their students. No student should be subject to verbal or physical harassment and bullying, and school administrators that look the other way or deny the existence of such problems on their campuses have failed in meeting this primary obligation to their students. Administrators should be clear: willful blindness to physical and verbal harassment of students does not make the problem go away; it only enables the bullies to continue.