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Bullying is a subject often talked about in elementary, middle and high school but often glossed over in college.
On Nov. 15, it was a subject heard loud and clear by attendees of Keep Your Paws to Yourself, an event organized at the University of Maine by Stephanie Treadwell, a child development and family relations student.
The event, based on raising awareness of bullying and giving an anonymous platform for victims to speak out, featured a variety of poems, songs and readings of anonymous stories victims submitted.
“I’m doing this because I want to give a voice to people who have been hurt by abuse,” Treadwell said. “If you’ve gone through it then the chances are that someone else has, too.”
The statistics in the presentations painted a similar picture.
Thirteen percent of college students report being forced into sexual relations by a dating partner, and 60 percent of rapes on campuses occur within dating relationships, according to a pamphlet passed out at the event.
The anonymous nature of the stories showed that anyone is susceptible to bullying. Stories dealt with family members threatening suicide and sexual abuse by professors at other universities. Some recalled nights spent drinking that ended in mornings at hospitals, not knowing what had happened, as well as days spent avoiding verbal abuse.
Robert Dana, dean of students, spoke about the seriousness of bullying and what he has seen in his years at UMaine.
“In 27 years I have seen a lot of very unhappy things,” Dana said. “It’s never OK.”
Dana urged anyone who was a victim of bullying to be vocal about the experience.
“We know that bad things happen in this world,” he said. “When bad things happen we have to talk about it. You can’t let these horrors of life reside in the basement.”
He also urged anyone witnessing bullying to speak up.
“Do just a little bit to make the world a lot better,” Dana said.
University of Maine police Sgt. Mark Coffey and officer Jason Butterfield attended, saying raising awareness and coming forward about bullying were important.
“Bullying does go on, I think more than people realize,” Coffey said. “As long as nobody knows about the bullying, they continue to bully.”
Coffey and Butterfield both suggested that going to the police about a serious bullying problem would go a long way towards ending the problem.
“Oftentimes a first-time warning from the police is all it takes to get someone to stop,” Coffey said.
Keep Your Paws To Yourself was organized entirely by students. Hannah Mason, a child development and family relations student, coined the phrase and started the group after seeing a lack of anti-bullying groups on campus.
Treadwell designed the event iself as a complement to Take Back the Night, an event that happened earlier this year and focused on domestic violence and sexual abuse.
“The way that Take Back the Night was set up was more about active audience participation,” Treadwell said. “I thought I could help people out by making it completely anonymous.”
The event and others like it have a similar goal: to increase awareness of bullying and abuse.
“The reason why I wanted to do this event is to give a voice to those who have been victimized,” Treadwell said. “It’s not going to go away unless it is talked about.”
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