Date of Conferral

2019

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

School

Education

Advisor

Dr. Therese Kanai

Abstract

Bullying in higher education has become a global concern on college campuses and is occurring there in face-to-face encounters and through social media. Bullying contributes to hundreds of thousands of students dropping out of their higher education programs annually. This study brings more awareness to the uncivil behaviors occurring on college campuses. It uses for its conceptual framework the fourth of the Seven Vectors of Identity Development articulated by Chickering and Reisser: developing mature interpersonal relationships. This study's 2 guiding questions investigated whether bullying took place on a single college campus and how the bullying revealed itself. Further, this study used qualitative methods to gather data through face-to-face semistructured interviews conducted on the institution's campus. The sample size for this study was 8 alumni. Its findings are based on individual participant perceptions that were analyzed for themes recurring throughout the interviews. These themes provided insight into the overall campus climate in the local setting as it pertains to bullying activities in a higher education context. The findings revealed that bullying does occur on the campus of the institution studied. In conclusion, these findings may contribute to positive social change by encouraging future research and may influence higher education administrators to take steps to mitigate the risks of bullying on their campuses.

Share

 
COinS