By Deanne Revel
I’m driving home this weekend for the summer and I’m already heartbroken and disturbed to drive under the bridge on Alabama Interstate 65 where 15-year-old Alex Moore jumped to her death on May 12.
I wish the Phoebe Prince case was the end of teen suicides as a result of bullying, but it’s not.
The most chilling report of the Phoebe Prince case is worse than the story of a 15-year-old girl hanging herself. It’s worse than the story of her 12-year-old younger sister finding her.
It’s the fact that teens are criminally charged for bullying and teens mocked Prince in death on Facebook, unaffected by the repercussions of their actions—unaffected by Prince’s suicide.
How merciless is this generation and from whom did they learn their behavior?
I look at my generation. I look at my peers. I look at the SCAD community.
Many of my classmates don’t deny being bullied in high school. One student admitted he was thrown in a Dumpster on several occasions.
This week’s episode of “Glee” is a prime example of how artistic students are sometimes not understood by classmates. Two characters, Curt and Tina, dress flamboyantly and other students threaten to beat them up.
SCAD’s alma mater, “Unique United,” resonates in me. I’d like to believe that with our multicultural, international student and faculty body SCAD is where differences are put aside.
Is the SCAD community a healthy environment?
Do we bully?
“No,” said Krista Harberson, foundation studies professor and adviser of SCAD’s Q&A. “I don’t think SCAD is an environment where bullying is tolerated—primarily because we have such a diverse student body, as well as a diverse faculty.”
I never worry about going to class for fear that another student will bully me, probably because this is not encouraged from day one. After freshman orientation, it is very clear to every SCAD student that this is not high school. Classes are fast-paced and challenging. We network and collaborate to make our projects stronger.
Matthew Demarko, a third-year film major, works on films with a crew from many walks of life.
“I think in something like film everyone is working so hard, giving up so much sleep and so much weekend that they know better than to bring petty arguments to a set,” Demarko said.
“In other disciplines, I feel like most are in awe of what the kids they are competing against are creating, so it turns into more a respect thing than a difference.” he added.
But what about outside of the classroom? What about online?
The Boston Herald reported that the day Prince killed herself “one of the accused bullies wrote, ‘Accomplished,’ as her status on her Facebook page.”
It’s sick. It’s disturbing. But Harberson, who is very active on Facebook and adds all of her students, assures she’s never seen any bullying on Facebook with SCAD students.
“Nope, never one incident,” she said.
I’m glad our campus community is so strong. Yes, we compete and critique with each other, but we do this professionally and we know when to set differences aside and just make art.
“I think that there’s bullying everywhere,” Demarko said. “But most kids at SCAD, by their very definition, can look at an object or situation in multiple ways and think about them from different perspectives. It seems that this leads to a lot less bullying and more support. Bullying doesn’t really create, it tears down, and most people here are creative.”
