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Academic Bullying and Human Rights: Is It Time to Take Them Seriously?

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Abstract

Notwithstanding universities’ many laudable aims, incidents of serious bullying, academic harassment and sexual harassment in academic settings are reported with increasing regularity globally. However, the human rights violations involved in bullying and academic harassment have not received attention by the literature. In this article, we pierce the veil of silence surrounding university environments and provide a systematic account of the breaches of international and European human rights law involved in academic bullying and harassment. By adopting a socio-legal lens, we shed light onto such practices and tactics, the breaches of specific human rights and norms and the reluctance of states and regulators to intervene in what is perceived to be universities’ ‘sovereign’ sphere of jurisdiction in order to prevent human rights’ violations and to protect the victims of human rights abuse. We call for a multi-faceted and multi-agency approach to tackle academic bullying and harassment, and make a number of institutional and policy recommendations to ensure universities’ compliance with human rights standards and the effective protection of academics under attack.

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Notes

  1. An increasing awareness about such phenomena and their harmful effects has been a contributing factor. With the ongoing efforts to enhance diversity and to advance the careers of minority scholars, coupled with the fact that these groups are more susceptible to bullying, we have been witnessing an increase in bullying incidents. An additional contributing factor is the rise in the mobility of international students, who are more vulnerable to such behaviours than their domestic counterparts. For instance, in 2022/2023 there was a 12% increase in international student enrolment in higher education institutions in the USA; 1,057,188 international students enrolled coming from 210 different countries; see https://opendoorsdata.org/annual-release/international-students.

  2. See the BBC report at: https://bbc.com/news/education-47936662; accessed on 2 November 2023.

  3. Wellcome Trust Survey at https://wellcome.org/reports/what-researchers-think-about-research-culture; accessed on 2 November 2023.

  4. The authors established the Workplace Bullying Institute in the USA in 1997.

  5. Issues relating to academics’ access to justice and effective legal remedies are outside the scope of the discussion in this article. It is noteworthy that access to justice is both a process and a goal and encompasses some core human rights, such as the right to equality before the law and the rights to a fair hearing and effective judicial protection which are enshrined in international human rights law. In order to avoid criticism of being under inclusive in the presentation of key provisions of international human rights law, we have included the related human right provisions, but a discussion of how targeted academics are treated by legal systems would require a separate article. Notably, the notion of access to justice obliges states to guarantee each individual’s right to go to court or, in some circumstances, an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) body, if one’s rights have been violated. ADR would also have to be discussed in a separate article on effective judicial and non-judicial remedies.

  6. On the anatomy of cyberbullying and their effects see Kostakopoulou and Mahmoudi (2022).

  7. In France and Belgium, bullying is termed harcèlement moral, while in Canada (Québec) is harcèlement psychologique/psychological harassment. Spain also uses the term acoso moral (moral harassment).

  8. A rule may be defined as ‘general norm guiding conduct or action in a given type of situation’; Twining and Miers (1985, 127).

  9. Notably, the European Social Charter of the Council of Europe (European Treaty Series No 163, Strasbourg, 3.V. 1996) recognises explicitly the right to dignity at work; Article 26 obliges the signatories to ensure not only the effective prevention of sexual harassment in the workplace or in relation to work, but also to ‘promote awareness, information and prevention of recurrent reprehensible or distinctly negative and offensive actions directed against individual workers in the workplace or in relation to work and to take all appropriate measures to protect workers from such conduct’.

  10. See also FRA, Business and Human Rights-Access to Remedy (Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2020).

  11. Issues relating to academics’ access to justice and effective legal remedies are outside the scope of the discussion in this article. It is noteworthy that access to justice is both a process and a goal and encompasses some core human rights, such as the right to equality before the law and the rights to a fair hearing and effective judicial protection which are enshrined in international human rights law. In order to avoid criticism of being under inclusive in the presentation of key provisions of international human rights law, we have included the related human right provisions, but a discussion of how targeted academics are treated by legal systems would require a separate article. Notably, the notion of access to justice obliges states to guarantee each individual’s right to go to court or, in some circumstances, an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) body, if one’s rights have been violated. ADR would also have to be discussed in a separate article on effective judicial and non-judicial remedies.

  12. The Wellcome Trust’s funding conditions can be accessed at https://wellcome.org/grant-funding/guidance/bullying-and-harassment-policy. The Wellcome Trust withdrew a grant of £3.5 million from a cancer geneticist following allegations that she bullied scientists and other staff members; https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-06009-9.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Dora Kostakopoulou

  2. Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA

    Morteza Mahmoudi

Authors
  1. Dora Kostakopoulou
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  2. Morteza Mahmoudi
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Correspondence to Dora Kostakopoulou.

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Kostakopoulou, D., Mahmoudi, M. Academic Bullying and Human Rights: Is It Time to Take Them Seriously?. Hum Rights Rev 25, 25–46 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12142-024-00713-y

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