The Need for Anti-Bullying Policies on Campus: An Argument for Improving Gender and Race Relations in Higher Education

Previous work has confirmed that higher education has experienced more workplace bullying than the general population. Close to two-thirds of respondents from four-year colleges and universities face workplace bullying (Hollis, 2016). Further, women face workplace bullying at a higher rate than men in higher education (Hollis, 2016b). To extend the discussion, this study considered Bolman and Deal's (2013) structural framework regarding organizations to examine how Black women and Black men respond to workplace bullying.

This secondary analysis focused on 175 four-year colleges and universities to answer the central research question: What is the relationship between gender/race position of the target and the target's reaction to workplace bullying in American higher education? In addition to a descriptive statistics analysis, a chi-square analysis revealed that while the general population of women turn to supervisors and HR, Black women are more likely to self-isolate. Further, results yielded a notable finding that Black men are more likely to leave the department to find relief from workplace bullying. These findings show that overt racism does not have to be present to create difficult work environments for Blacks in higher education; yet the power struggles present in workplace bullying disproportionally affect Blacks in higher education.