Panelists say you need culture, leadership to cancel out bullying

Patrick Hogan, CR Gazette –

CEDAR FALLS — If there’s one phrase the anti-bullying experts gathered at the University of Northern Iowa on Tuesday said they are tired of hearing, it’s “kids will be kids.”

The saying, and others like it, is frequently uttered by parents, teachers, administrators and community members to turn a blind eye to the serious problem of bullying in schools.

The panel was convened to discuss the independent documentary “Bully,” a 2011 film that follows students from multiple schools across the country over a two-year period and chronicles their experiences with bullying.

Included on the panel were “Bully’s” director, Lee Hirsch, and writer, Cynthia Lowen, who discussed their experience making the film.

The two New York natives set out to show the country what bullying looks like. Hirsch was a frequent target of physical bullying during his school years, and said he remembers having trouble communicating to adults just how painful the experiences were.

“We wanted to give a real face to bullying, something we could hold in our hand and our hearts,” he said.

It took two years to produce “Bully,” and another year to get it into theaters, a process complicated by an R rating that could have prevented many younger students from seeing the film. Hirsch and Lowen set a goal to try to get the film seen by a million students to help spread their message. An appeal to the MPAA eventually changed the rating, and as of Friday more than 90,000 students have seen the film.

Screenings of the film for Cedar Falls and Waterloo students have been taking place this week, and Hirsch was approached after the panel by Cedar Rapids residents who hoped to bring the movie south.

While “Bully” helped reveal the face of bullying to the world, the panelists, which included UNI professors and local school administrators, discussed what needed to happen in order to put an end to it.

The difficult answer, they said, is that all parties in a community, from students to teachers to individuals not involved in the school system at all, need to be active leaders in terms of deciding what behavior is and is not acceptable.

“It is a community issue, one in which the school plays a vital part, but there’s also the parents, the faith community and so many others who need to be at the table,” said Michael Fleming, a UNI professor from the School of Applied Human Sciences.

Fleming, as well as several other panelists, complimented Sioux City, one of the school districts featured in “Bully,” for its multifaceted approach in confronting bullying in the wake of being featured in the documentary.

The panel was followed by a screening of “Bully” at the Marcus College Square Theater, where UNI President Ben Allen was scheduled to deliver a short introduction, followed by a QandA session with Hirsch and Lowen.