Contents
Share

Policy on Hazing, Bullying and Cyber-Bullying

In accordance with Illinois law, National Louis University strictly prohibits the practice of hazing, bullying or cyber-bullying of any students by any other students or groups of students. Conduct that would actively or passively support acts of bullying, hazing or cyber-bullying will not be tolerated.

Hazing is defined as any intentional or reckless action or situation which promotes emotional or physical harassment, discomfort, or ridicule; hazing is usually connected with the initiation or entry of a new individual or group of individuals into an already existing group or with the discipline of a member by other members of a group.

Specifically, the following hazing activities directed toward any pledge, initiate, or new member of an organization or team are prohibited:

  1. Any and all forms of strenuous physical activity which are not part of an organized constructive event and which may reasonably be expected to bring harm.
  2. Paddling, beating, pushing, shaving, restraining, immobilizing, or striking.
  3. Activities that result in the unreasonable loss of sleep or study time.
  4. Forcing or coercing a person or persons to eat or drink amounts of any substance, including alcohol, drugs, foods or other substances.
  5. Abduction and/or forced relocation or exposure to extreme weather.
  6. Cruel psychological treatment.
  7. The intentional creation of clean-up work or labor for new members by active/inactive members or alumni.
  8. Nudity or lewd behavior.
  9. Walking in a line/formation.
  10. Wearing of a uniform.
  11. Behavior which disrupts the normal functioning of the University; behavior which forces another person(s) to participate in an illegal, publicly indecent, or morally degrading activity; or behavior which violates rules, regulations, and policies of National Louis University.

Bullying is intentional aggressive behavior toward another that is severe or repeated and that would be likely to intimidate, hurt, demean, control, or diminish a reasonable person. Bullying may be verbal or physical, and may occur through electronic means (cyber-bullying). Bullying can occur through one isolated, but severe, incident, or through a pattern of repeated incidents.

Cyber-bullying and Social Media

Cyber Bullying is defined as any activity that deliberately threatens, harasses, intimidates an individual, places an individual in reasonable fear of harm to the individual or damage to the individual’s property; or has the effect of substantially disrupting the orderly operation of the individual’s daily life via the use of electronic information and communication devices, to include but not be limited to: e-mail messages, instant messaging, text messaging, cellular telephone communications, internet blogs, social media cites, internet chat rooms, internet postings.

Cyber bullying by a member of the NLU community directed towards another is prohibited. It includes, but is not limited to:

  1. Sending mean, threatening or harassing messages to another person through texts, e-mail, web pages, or instant messaging.
  2. Spreading lies and rumors about victims through the internet or text messages.
  3. Posting pictures without the consent of the individual. 
  4. Tricking someone into revealing their personal information and sending it to others.
  5. Creating websites, polls, or blogs about the individual that are meant to embarrass or hurt the person.
  6. Recording conversations or videos without the individual’s consent and then posting it online.

The university may suspend network privileges for as long as necessary in order to protect the university's computing resources for violations of this policy. In addition, any violation of this policy is "misconduct" and subject to disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal for employees and expulsion for students, in accordance with the applicable disciplinary process. Additional sanctions may also include civil and/or criminal actions.

Intimidation

Bullying, intimidation, and harassment: a person acts with the purpose to bully, intimidate, and harass another by:

  1. Making, or causing to be made, a communication or communications (including the use of electronic and/or social media) anonymously or at extremely inconvenient hours, or in offensively coarse language, or any other manner likely to cause annoyance or alarm; or
  2. Subjecting another to striking, kicking, shoving, or other offensive touching, or threatening to do so; or
  3. Engaging in any other course of alarming conduct or of repeatedly committed acts with purpose to alarm or seriously annoy such other person, such that the behavior substantially disrupts or interferes with the orderly operation of the institution or the rights of other students to participate in or benefit from the educational program.

Any allegations of hazing, bullying or cyber-bullying are be promptly reported through an Incident Report at nl.edu/letusknow.