BUZZ
Bullying ‘tactics included threatening grade appeals, malicious complaints, negative online reviews’
Nearly one third of professors say they have been bullied to give students better grades than they deserve, a new psychology study found.
The study, “Bullying in Higher Education: Leadership and Culture as Pathways to Resilience,” did not mention whether the professors gave into that pressure.
Of the 189 faculty surveyed in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, 30 percent reported being “bullied” by students for better grades, according to the study, published Oct. 15 in the Journal of Multidisciplinary Research & Practice.
Writing at The Conversation this week, co-author Professor Jason Walker of Adler University in Chicago said the bullying “tactics included threatening grade appeals, malicious complaints, negative online reviews, emotional manipulation and intimidation.”
The researchers defined the term “bullying” as “harmful acts of mistreatment between people that go beyond incivility and cross the line to intentionally cause harm.”
“In other words, it’s behavior any reasonable person would know isn’t OK,” Walker wrote.
Interestingly, the study also found that “senior faculty were more likely than younger educators to report being bullied by students over grades.”
Walker and his two co-authors concluded that more research is necessary to understand why.
“Bullying and harassment of faculty by students in exchange for grades is a problem that has not been well studied. Of the existing literature, studies indicate that mistreatment of professors is common,” they wrote, adding:
Studies that follow the same faculty over several years could show how grade bullying builds over time, and whether it pushes people to leave or lose trust in their institutions. One likely pattern is that grade bullying escalates when it works, wearing faculty down until they either give in or leave their jobs.
Researchers need to test what actually works to stop bullying, and whether those fixes hold up at different kinds of colleges and universities.
They also noted the significance of the issue, writing, “The prevalence of grade-related issues in academia highlights concerns regarding ethics, student behavior, and institutional integrity.”
The study comes at a time of heightened concern about grade inflation, especially at Ivy League institutions.
In May, Harvard University faculty approved a 20-percent cap on A grades, starting next fall, The College Fix reported at the time. Yale and Columbia have been mulling similar changes.
Meanwhile, some professors say administrative pressure, grading floors, or professional career costs put pressure on them to not fail students.
MORE: Some professors say they’re under pressure not to give F’s
