Bullying in the academy: understanding the student bully and the targeted ‘stupid, fat, mother fucker’ professor

ABSTRACT

Bullying within academia often focuses on peer bullying or the student victim. However, the student bully who targets professors is a neglected area of study yet just as destructive, demeaning, and intimidating. Using a narrative lens analysis, the researchers share how the story of bullying unfolds in the classroom. Distinct triggers, such as entitlement or expectation management, mark the beginning of the narrative. As the narrative progresses, students display a variety of aggressive behaviors in an attempt to establish power or dominance over the targeted professor. The resulting academic contrapower harassment (ACPH) display may negatively impact the professor psyche, learning environment, and overall level of satisfaction with the professoriate, leaving a potentially open-ended narrative that impacts targeted professors for years to come. Thematic analysis reveals shared themes among targeted professors, indicating bullying is problematic on multiple levels. The findings suggest a lack of formal training and education while reinforcing the importance of peer networks.

KEYWORDS:

• Bullying
• professoriate
• higher education
• contrapower
• ACPH
• imposter syndrome
• narrative

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.