Law Professors, Law Schools

Workplace Bullying, Academic Style

A bully affects an entire school, not just the victim of the bullying.

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Stop Bullying

Dear LawProfBlawg,

I’m sitting here watching my colleague be abusive to a member of our staff.  He has a reputation for being abusive to staff, and he’s driving them away!  Every time someone quits we have to train a new person, only to have that person quit.  He just latches on and won’t quit being mean to them.  We all know it’s happening, but we can’t stop him. What can I do?

Ambivalent in Academia

Dear Ambivalent,

I’m sorry to hear that your colleague has such low self-esteem that he needs to take out his feelings of powerlessness on people he supervises.  I feel badly for the bully.  He’ll only be remembered in the long run for how horribly he treated people.  And because you didn’t state it, I’ll assume the bully isn’t the dean or that this isn’t a colleague bullying a colleague.  I’ve been there before.

If your dean can’t manage the bully, the target of the bully won’t be able to manage him, either.  And you, his trusty colleague, can’t manage him, either.  You won’t change him.  He’s not going to listen to reason.  According to your message, he has a long history, and the staff person is never going to win him over.  Think of it as trying to win over that disapproving parent.  It’s never, ever going to happen.  Ever.  And the staff member will destroy his or her own self-esteem in the process.

Of course, to the staff member, you might give the usual advice.  For example, document the hell out of everything.  If he frowns at you the wrong way, document it.  If he passive aggressively suggests he’ll have to do something himself while sighing heavily, document it.  Just keep a notepad handy for all his attempts at torture.  And find a person to whom to vent.  That doesn’t mean broadcast it to everyone, but don’t keep it walled up.  Make sure the person to whom you vent is NOT someone who is in contact with the bully.  You never know how small the school will turn out to be.  And, how does your jurisdiction feel about recording with only one-party consent?

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But the other thing you, the colleague, should be doing is counteracting your colleague’s behavior so that the staff member’s day isn’t just one verbal beating after another.  Silence in the wake of abuse might suggest you condone his behavior.  Is your colleague ridiculing?  Then praise, if it is deserved.  Is your colleague asking for impossible performance?  Then give fair appraisal of performance.  In other words, be human.  Even if you’re untenured and afraid the bully won’t vote for you, you need to keep what humanity you have.  You’ll need it after tenure.

If you’re the associate dean dealing with a bully, you might consider a harsher intervention.  If the professor can’t adult up and be human, maybe he shouldn’t get staff support?  Maybe he needs to teach classes at midnight so that he avoids interactions with most humans?  Maybe he needs to have secondary approval for any administrative tasks he assigns?  If he’s not tenured, maybe it needs to be addressed during his tenure vote, if not well before?

A bully affects an entire school, not just the victim of the bullying.  A bully may cause a revolving door for any position that has to deal with him.  He may cause administration to forever be destined to spend countless hours mediating, only to then spend countless hours finding a replacement.  Investment in training is lost, and the school eventually develops a bad reputation as a place to work.  He makes the place toxic. In this day and age, your law school doesn’t need to shoot itself in the foot by signaling to talented potential employees that they should avoid your school like the plague.

LawProfBlawg is an anonymous professor at a top 100 law school. You can see more of his musings here and on Twitter. Email him at lawprofblawg@gmail.com.

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