NAIT staff and students dawned pink shirts at a rally Wednesday as a show of support to those affected by bullying. The event is part of the fourth annual anti-bullying day across campus.
One of the many NAIT students to attend the afternoon rally was second-year academic upgrading student Shayfer Glueck. Glueck has personally experienced bullying on campus.
” People were just bullying me because I wasn’t really doing well in school. Thought I was dumb, thought I was stupid and just put me down for being not a good student.”
– Shayfer Glueck
A common misconception is that bullying primarily occurs at a younger age, in places like elementary and junior high schools. When in fact, bullying at the post-secondary level is not uncommon.
Bullying in post-secondary can take on different forms. Some of the most common include…
- Staff-Student: In some cases, instructors have been known to restrict students with learning disabilities from gaining the extra help needed in academics.
- Staff-Staff: Harassment among peers in various forms.
- Student-Student: Can take on various forms including physical, verbal and academic.
Research has shown that 100,000 students drop out annually due to bullying at post-secondary in North America.
One of the primary messages being shared on anti-bullying day is that NAIT does not tolerate bullying in any form.
“A reminder to people that NAIT staff and students don’t tolerate bullying, harassment, abuse and discrimination of any sort,” said Christine Bannerman, supervisor NAIT Health Services.
Pink shirt day was started by two young Nova Scotia boys in 2007, who bought and distributed 50 pink shirts after a classmate was bullied for wearing pink the first day of school. February 27 is now recognized as annual anti-bullying day in Canada. The annual tradition has now reached international borders as far as Japan.
