A residential college gives rise to the idea of excellence, discipline and security. Of late, there’ve been frequent incidents of bullying which occurred on college grounds. When these perpetrators were caught, they were usually given a warning by the principal.

Many parents felt that the punishment was too light. Besides that, it came as a shock that these bullies came from educated and well-established homes, contrary to the popular belief that bullies originated from dysfunctional families. Another sore point was that it was an ‘in-house’ matter and so the police were not called. All these seemed to propagate the idea that if bullying had taken place, minor punishment would be meted out and for the sake of the good name of the college, everything was kept under wraps.

Why do bullies take the law into their own hands? Some feel that the act of aggression often begins because students tend to clique according to the state that they come from. They’re not mix freely with students from other states.

Next, the catalyst is usually an attitude problem. In one incident, a student boasted of his family’s wealth. Someone got offended and it was a one-to-one confrontation. When the situation got worse more ‘allies’ were called in. by then, interrogation would take place whereby the victim would be subjected to intense questioning and verbal abuse.

It’s inevitable that the next course of action would be physical abuse. The time chosen would be the unearthly hour of 2 or 3 a.m. when all the wardens and guardians are asleep. The victim would receive a knock on his door. If he chooses to open it, he’d be asked to go someplace to meet someone. The plea of leniency would fall on deaf ears and the horror will begin.

Labels: brainy, bullies, project, reign