Page 43 - The Flame

Issues

SWDB imposes sanctions against escalating cyber-bullying cases

By CHRISTINE DIANE R. ALMANZOR and CHRISTIAN CARL E. NARIZ
The technological innovati ons posed by modernizati on give both advantageous and disadvantageous eff ects to humanity. For instance, the new media are considered benefi cial for the overfl owing informati on they provide
their users. However, negati ve eff ects also hound the people as they indecently abuse technology. This negati ve implicati on is manifested by the sudden rise of cyber-bullying cases that mostly aff ect today’s youth.

picture(s) or images refl ecti ng un-Christi an ably the penalty would be suspension or are usually decided upon by a committ ee
behavior of himself or of any persons.” dismissal depending again on the gravity of created by a parti cular college or faculty.
Although Tabirara said that “the matt er off ense,” he added. “The moment a complaint is made, we
is really becoming a concern not only of Art- “Of course there is always an excuse that follow the usual procedures, asking the
lets but all the other colleges at the Univer- it is really a private thing. But the moment suspects to explain or to respond to the
sity,” Chua pointed out that “there has been that there is an admission, that already en- complaint given. Generally, if the supposed
no formal complaint for cyber-bullying” tails penalty,” Tabirara said. respondent admits, then we give the neces-
that has reached the Offi ce of Student Af- sary penalty,” Tabirara explained.
fairs (OSA). Vague defi niti on “Basically, that is the procedure used all
According to Tabirara, a complaint will Chua noted that the exact range and the ti me. In a way, it does not diff er from
only be elevated to the OSA once an in- scope of cyber-bullying in the University the other off enses. We follow the same
volved party, aft er a decision has been policy remains unclear. procedure of investi gati on and the giving of
made by the local SWDB, makes an “The truth is that we are not yet exactly penalty,” she added.
appeal because they fi nd the decision d e f i n i n g
incorrect or if the case involves stu- what cy-
dents from two diff erent colleges. ber-bully- “Since there are a lot of students
As of this writi ng, no concrete ing is, but complaining about classmates
and specifi c plan of acti on toward it will be
this issue was made in Artlets. Howev- covered by uploading or posting degrading content
er, Tabirara assured that “in the com- the provi- on Facebook, we just want to emphasize
ing semesters, we should be able to sion con-
meet with the coordinators of the c e r n i n g that you are not only liable for your
diff erent departments, diff erent courtesy.
disciplines, and come up with So as a actions inside the University, but in the
a defi nite decision as to how person, as electronic media as well,”
we would deal with this kind of a student,
matt er.” you are - UST SWDB Director Antonio Chua
supposed
Penalti es and sancti ons to be courteous toward your teachers, the On the other hand, Roxas said that as
Meanwhile, concrete penal- administrati on, and student classmates. By a psychologist, they see the issue as a be-
ti es and sancti ons remain vague posti ng indecent words you are becoming havioral problem for students who result to
on how to address reported inci- discourteous,” Chua said. bullying, and that interventi on is more ap-
dents of cyber-bullying, but Tabi- According to Artlets Guidance Counselor propriate than punishment.
rara said that they “have issued Maryfe Roxas, elements such as the inten- She noted that bullies see it as a
warnings and undertakings that ti on to hurt, hurtf ul percepti on of the act, “strained relati onship” so they fi nd the in-
if similar off enses are committ ed again— repeti ti ve patt erns of negati ve messages, ternet as an avenue where they can express
whether it is cyber bullying or whatever and power imbalance are necessary for a their anger.
kind of off ense—will already mean certain act to be considered cyber-bullying.
parental admission and/or sus- She defi ned cyber-bullying as “an ag- Responsible use
pension.” gressive, intenti onal act to harm some- In an eff ort to strengthen the campaign
On the other hand, Chua ex- body” with the use of technology. on the responsible use of the new media,
plained that unti l such ti me that Quoti ng a book by social worker and Tabirara said that student movements for
there is a case, the penalty that psychotherapist John Sharry, Roxas said cyber media awareness and consciousness
would be applied would depend that it is “an age-old societal problem” that will be given emphasis starti ng next semes-
upon the gravity of the act. evolved from a simple “face-to-face” bully- ter.
According to Chua, cursing each other ing into online harassment because of the She stressed that users of social net-
in the internet will only be considered as present-day technology. working sites must bear in mind that “Face-
EDILBERTO LORENZO R. MORELOS, JR.
a mild incident, while acts involving grave Roxas explained that people resort to book is not a private thing. It is meant for
threats will be considered severe. bullying because of the so called “strain everybody to read whatever you put in
“When students just blurt out bad theory” that they were also victi ms of vio- there.”
words, we do not penalize that. But if you lence in their own homes. “What is important is to raise the con-
do it in writi ng and there is a record, or if sciousness of the students regarding their
somebody uploaded an indecent picture Interventi on than punishment responsibiliti es in the use of these media,”
and the victi m was scandalized, then prob- Tabirara said that cases of cyber-bullying she said. F
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