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2020 International Conference on Computational Science and Computational Intelligence (CSCI)

Bullying and Hazing in Computer Science

Jeremy Straub Department of Computer Science North Dakota State University Fargo, ND, USA [email protected]

justification theory” which contends that groups may use to Abstract—To determine how prevalent hazing is in tenure- hazing to instill with existing group hierarchies that track computer science positions at United States research benefit existing members “sacrificing the newcomers’ universities, a survey was sent to all individuals holding a position individual rights for the good of the group.” Authoritarian with a tenure-track title at these universities. This article reports tendencies of group members and a perceived tradition of hazing that 26% of respondents reported one or more activities may exacerbate the hazing activities under this model [9]. commonly associated with / hazing occurring to them and 20% reported being aware of it happening to a colleague in a Cimino [10] suggests that the explanation for hazing may be tenure-track position. Even more problematic, 71% of more complicated. Justifications for hazing may include respondents reported having one or more symptoms commonly generating solidarity, expressing dominance and ensuring the associated with hazing or bullying themselves and 56% of commitment of group members [10]. However, even these do respondents reported observing these symptoms in a tenure-track not fully explain the particular characteristics of many hazing colleague. Despite this, the vast majority of respondents indicated activities. To this end, Cimino [10] proposes an “automatic that they did not consider themselves to be hazed or bullied. accrual theory” that posits that many hazing behaviors are Keywords—bullying, hazing, computer science, tenure track designed to deal with the problem of free-riders who enjoy automatic benefits from group membership but may not I. INTRODUCTION contribute to the group. Under this theory, higher levels of perceived automatic benefit and the perception of the risk of Bullying and hazing are not unknown to college campuses. exploitation increase the severity of hazing as a deterrent to free- In fact, much of the public awareness of hazing comes from riders. incidents on college campuses [1]–[3]. However, these incidents are, nearly without exception, related to students All five theories may support rationalizations based on participating in a fraternity. However, hazing and bullying are hazers’ personal experiences and purported benefits to the also prevalent in the workplace. Bullying behavior has been individual or the group. Employing such rationalizations may suggested to cost organizations as much as $40 billion and facilitate the transfer of responsibility and from the hazers described as “a prolonged course of escalating torment” [4]. to their victims, in the minds of the hazers. Hazing, bullying that is related to joining or advancing in an organization, is prevalent and has been reported in occupations ranging from nurses [4] to firefighters [5]. Its deleterious effects III. HAZING AND BULLYING IN THE TENURE TRACK are documented in the workplace, in college students [6] and in sports [7]. In the most severe cases, it has been linked to suicidal Tenure-track positions at U.S. research universities provide behavior [8] and accidental deaths [2], though numerous less an opportunity for faculty to demonstrate their capabilities prior severe symptoms and outcomes also occur. to being awarded the benefits of tenure. The benefits of tenure may be less certain amidst legal challenges to its protections [11] This study evaluates the prevalence of hazing and bullying and the current wave of campus closures [12] and layoffs amidst in the computer science university workplace, focusing on [13] the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it is designed to tenure-track positions at research universities in the United provide enhanced employment certainty to facilitate the States. It characterizes the scope of the problem and provides exploration of controversial subjects. Even amidst the current an impetus for further research (spanning other disciplines) and uncertainty, tenure provides greater protection than academic demonstrates a need for corrective activities, potentially staff employed as untenured and contingent faculty enjoy. The including a change to the tenure concept and processes growth of those without the protections of tenure has been themselves. significant, leading to Finder characterizing those in tenured and tenure-track positions as being “a distinct minority on the country’s campuses” and raising concerns about what this II. BACKGROUND means for the future of U.S. higher education [14]. Hazing and bullying behaviors, fundamentally, are an Because of the benefits that tenure provides as well as the of a perceived or actual authority of one person over another. A make-or-break nature of the tenure decision at many institutions, variety of explanations for the occurrence of hazing have been there is a significant amount of leverage provided to colleagues proposed. Thomas and Meglich [9] suggest a “system that are or may be involved in the tenure decision-making

978-1-7281-7624-6/20/$31.00 ©2020 IEEE 309 DOI 10.1109/CSCI51800.2020.00059 process. While there are clear similarities of this leverage to 4. Has anyone else that you know of, at your current those that decide the acceptance fate of initiates at fraternities college / university or a previous college / university, and sororities, which have generated much of the public experienced any of the following symptoms while in awareness of hazing, significant differences exist. First, the a pre-tenure, tenure-track position? admission to a fraternity or sorority does not impact the student’s ability to continue at a university, in the way that a tenure In each case, a list of answers was provided (which are listed results in termination, at many institutions. Second, the time with the presentation of results, in a subsequent section), based period in the vulnerable pre-acceptance status is far longer for on HazingPrevention.org. tenure-track faculty than for fraternity and sorority initiates. The faculty tenure decision is also unlike many other workplaces The second screen asked the following four questions: because of its make-or-break result. Thus, comparisons to other According to HazingPrevention.org, bullying is [16]: workplaces are similarly imperfect. "Repeated actions or threats of action directed toward a With more at state comes more potential for abuse. The person by one or more people who have (or are perceived to longer period of time in a vulnerable position potentially have) more power or status than their target in order to cause increases the impact of hazing or bullying, if it occurs. This fear, distress or harm. Bullying can be physical, verbal, study characterizes the prevalence of hazing and bullying in psychological or any combination of these three." tenure-track positions at U.S. research universities to assess what the extent of the problem is. 1. Do you believe that you have been the target of bullying at your current position or another pre- tenure, tenure-track position? IV. METHODS A list of research universities having Ph.D. programs in 2. Do you believe that anyone else you know has been Computer Science or an equivalent field was previously the target of bullying at your current institution or collected [15]. This list was updated to account for changes another in a pre-tenure, tenure-track position? since its last use, using a similar methodology as was used to generate it initially. Each department’s website was visited and According to HazingPrevention.org, hazing is [16]: a list of the email addresses of all persons with a title of ‘assistant professor’ was compiled. An email was sent to these individuals "Any action taken or any situation created intentionally that inviting them to participate in a Qualtrics-hosted survey related causes , or ridicule and risks to hazing and bullying. They were supplied a non-unique link emotional and/or physical harm to members of a group or team, so that their responses could not be associated with their email whether new or not, regardless of the person’s willingness to address (and thus, their identity) for human subject protection participate." and to facilitate participation and frankness. One-thousand ninety-seven emails were sent, however, 19 had address problems or returned an out of office message for a total of 1078 3. Do you believe that you have been the target of useful emails. Of these, 196 individuals accessed the survey. hazing at your current position or another pre-tenure, Survey responses that were not submitted and contained no tenure-track position? response to any question were not included in calculations. Of the 196 surveys started, 133 were submitted or contained a 4. Do you believe that anyone else you know has been response to at least one question. the target of hazing at your current institution or The survey had eight questions on two screens, without the another in a pre-tenure, tenure-track position? ability to backtrack from the second screen to the first, after submission of the first. The first screen asked the following four Note that the full definition was written out for each questions: question, when presented to the respondent. In each instance, respondents were given the opportunity to choose between yes, 1. Have you been asked to perform or been the target of no and possibly. Response was not required to any or all any of the following, while in a pre-tenure, tenure- questions and 11 individuals submitted entirely blank surveys. track position?

2. Has anyone else that you know of, at your current V. DATA AND ANALYSIS college / university or a previous college / university, been asked to perform or been the target of any of the Of the 133 completed or submitted surveys, 34 indicated at least one act, commonly associated with bullying or hazing, following, while in a pre-tenure, tenure-track occurring to them and 27 reported this happening to a tenure- position? track colleague. Ninety-four respondents reported exhibiting at least one symptom commonly associated with bullying or 3. Have you experienced any of the following hazing themselves and 75 reported observing such a symptom symptoms while in a pre-tenure, tenure-track in a tenure-track colleague. Table 1 reports the number of each position?

310 TABLE I. INSTANCES OF ACTIVITIES COMMONLY ASSOCIATED WITH HAZING AND BULLYING (ANSWERS BASED ON HAZINGPREVENTION.ORG [17]).

Respondent Colleague Forced or required activities prove your worth 20 18 Forced or required consumption of foods, alcohol and/or other substances 0 1 Forced or required to endure hardships such as staying awake, menial tasks, and/or physical labor 7 5 Activity causing 5 8 Activity causing isolation 7 10 Physical acts (including but not limited to unwanted touching, beating, paddling, etc.) 4 5 Requirement to do things established individuals are not required to do 26 20 Requirement to perform activities that are illegal, unethical, unprofessional and/or emotionally disturbing 5 5 activity reported and Table 2 reports the number of respondents extent. There are, inherently, a number of limitations to this indicating symptoms themselves or for colleagues. study. It is unknown how reflective those that responded are to the overall population. The entire population was given an Of respondents, 26% of reporting an activity associated with opportunity to respond; however, only a fraction of the hazing or bullying occurring to them and 20% reporting this population did. It could be suggested that those that had occurring to a colleague while 71% and 56% reported a experienced hazing or bulling were more likely to respond; symptom themselves or observing it in a colleague. Twenty alternately, it could be argued that individuals trying to build percent of respondents said they were or possibly were the their professional reputations may be apprehensive of reporting victim of bullying themselves, while 24% reported that they being a victim. believed a colleague was or possibly was a victim. Similarly, 15% of respondents reported they were or possibly were a victim The data that is presented herein suggests that additional of hazing while 18% said a colleague was or possibly was a research is needed in this area. Additionally, the presence of the victim. specific cases reported demonstrates a need for corrective measures; however, the fully extent to which these measures are TABLE II. COUNTS OF SYMPTOMS ASSOCIATED WITH HAZING AND needed is not known at this time. BULLYING (ANSWERS FROM HAZINGPREVENTION.ORG [16] ). Additionally, there is no specific indication that Computer Respondent Colleague Science, as a discipline, is unique in having problems with 44 49 Isolation and loneliness 57 47 hazing and bullying in tenure track positions. Given this, studies Anxiety 84 69 in additional disciplines would seem prudent, based upon the Poor performance 22 39 results presented herein for the Computer Science discipline. Health-issues 37 38 Low self-esteem 47 46 Marginalization 17 25 Thoughts of suicide 12 7 VII. CONCLUSIONS This paper has presented the results of a survey to characterize the prevalence of bullying and hazing of faculty in In 10 of the 14 instances of a respondent reporting being a tenure-track positions in the Computer Science discipline at U.S. victim of bullying, an associated action was also reported. In 13 research universities. While it cannot conclusively characterize of the 14, a symptom was also reported. In 9 of the 12 instances the prevalence of the occurrence, it has demonstrated that it is of possibly being a victim of bulling an associated action was occurring. also reported, while in 10 of the 12 a symptom was also reported. Similarly, respondents reported an action while being a victim This work has resulted in numerous acts and symptoms of of hazing in 5 of the 8 instances themselves and 8 of the 12 hazing being reported by respondents. Some of these acts are possible instances. They reported a symptom in all 8 instances more benign than others; however, if we remove these more of being a victim themselves and in all 12 instances of possibly benign acts, 28 reports were made of activities that would violate being victimized. policies at most if not all universities happening to respondents and 34 reports were made of these activities happening to pre- There was also a strong correlation between one having tenure colleagues. Over 40 individuals reported depression, experienced an action of bullying / hazing themselves and nearly 60 reported isolation and loneliness, nearly 40 reported having this happen to a colleague. Of the 34 individuals health issues, nearly 50 reported low self-esteem and a dozen reporting experiencing an act of hazing/bullying, 71% reported reported having thoughts of suicide. Similar reports were also an act happening to a pre-tenure colleague. Of the 94 individuals made for pre-tenure colleagues. reporting a symptom of hazing/bullying, 74% reported noticing a college with a symptom as well. While no level of hazing or bullying is acceptable, some may unfortunately be inevitable. The levels reported here (26%

reporting an act of hazing and 71% reporting a symptom), VI. DISCUSSION however, exceed the levels reported by a study [18] of hazing levels reported as a high school student (15-22%), as a college The data presented in the previous section demonstrates that or university student (7-11%) and in the military (5-7%). there is a problem; however, it does not fully characterize its Presumably university faculty should be better equipped to

311 avoid hazing their colleagues than high school and college particular occupations, professions and sectors, Singapore: Springer students and have a rate closer to that of the military. However, Singapore, 2018, pp. 1–28. the rate is higher than both the high school and college rates and [6] E. J. Allan, D. Kerschner, and J. M. Payne, “College Student Hazing 5 times as high as the military rate. The rate is closer to the rate Experiences, Attitudes, and Perceptions: Implications for Prevention,” J. reported by Thomas [9]; however, other factors present in the Stud. Aff. Res. Pract., vol. 56, no. 1, pp. 32–48, Jan. 2019. academic workplace, and the longer duration of being in a vulnerable status, may make the experience more intense than in [7] A. S. Jeckell, E. A. Copenhaver, and A. B. Diamond, “The Spectrum of non-academic ones. While these prior surveys were Hazing and Peer in Sports: A Current Perspective,” Sport. methodologically different, in some ways, from the current one, Heal. A Multidiscip. Approach, vol. 10, no. 6, pp. 558–564, Nov. 2018. the juxtaposition clearly shows a problem requiring additional [8] L. L. Hourani et al., “Workplace victimization risk and protective study and corrective action. factors for suicidal behavior among active duty military personnel,” J. These results suggest that corrective measures and additional Affect. Disord., vol. 236, pp. 45–51, Aug. 2018. research are needed regarding bullying and hazing in the [9] B. J. Thomas and P. Meglich, “Justifying new employees’ trials by fire: Computer Science discipline. They also may provide a workplace hazing,” Pers. Rev., vol. 48, no. 2, pp. 381–399, Mar. 2019. justification for conducting similar studies in other disciplines to characterize the extent of bullying and hazing therein. [10] A. Cimino, “The Evolution of Hazing: Motivational Mechanisms and Particularly if bullying and hazing are shown to be a problem the Abuse of Newcomers,” J. Cogn. Cult., vol. 11, pp. 241–267, 2011. across disciplines, changes to the tenure process and even the [11] J. M. Badagliacca, “The Decline of Tenure: The Sixth Circuit’s concept of tenure itself may merit consideration. Interpretation of Academic Tenure’s Substantive Protections,” Seton Hall Law Rev., vol. 44, 2014. [12] M. T. Nietzel, “Higher Education’s Big Shake-Up Is Underway,” ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Forbes, 16-Oct-2020. Thanks are given to Nicholas Snell for assembling the list of [13] M. T. Nietzel, “Universities Continue Their Pandemic-Related Layoffs. faculty email addresses used. Funding and facilities were , Duke, And The University Of Memphis Among The provided by the NDSU College of Science and Mathematics and Latest,” Forbes, 09-Oct-2020. the NDSU Department of Computer Science. Note that italics in tables indicate direct quotations from the identified sources. [14] A. Finder, “Decline of the Tenure Track Raises Concerns,” New York Times, 20-Nov-2007. [15] J. Straub, “Assessment of examinations in computer science doctoral REFERENCES education,” Comput. Sci. Educ., vol. 24, no. 1, 2014. [16] HazingPrevention.org, “Hazing and Bullying,” HazingPrevention.org [1] E. Joseph, “University of Buffalo: 18-year-old freshman dies 6 days Website, 2020. [Online]. Available: after a suspected hazing incident,” CNN, 18-Apr-2019. https://hazingprevention.org/home/hazing/hazing-and-bullying/. [2] K. Reilly, “These Are the Students Who Died in Fraternity Hazing in [Accessed: 02-Dec-2020]. 2017,” Time, 21-Dec-2017. [17] HazingPrevention.org, “Facts: What Hazing Looks Like,” [3] M. Holcombe, “3 fraternity brothers sentenced to jail in Penn State HazingPrevention.org Website, 2020. [Online]. Available: hazing death,” CNN, 03-Apr-2019. https://hazingprevention.org/home/hazing/facts-what-hazing-looks-like/. [4] T. H. Porter, N. Day, and P. Meglich, “City of Discontent? The [Accessed: 02-Dec-2020]. Influence of Perceived Organizational Culture, LMX, and Newcomer [18] G. McCarriston, “1 in 5 Americans experienced hazing during high Status on Reported Bullying in a Municipal Workplace,” Empl. school,” YouGov, 21-Aug-2017. Responsib. Rights J., vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 119–141, Jun. 2018.

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