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ABA YLD Update

Bullyproof

This year’s American Bar Association (“ABA”) Young Lawyers Division (“YLD”) initiative, “Bullyproof,” kicked off at the ABA YLD Annual Meeting in San Francisco. This initiative strives to involve young lawyers in both educating and empowering to end bullying.

At assembly, the ABA YLD passed Resolution 6YL written by Courtenay Dunn of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Resolution 6YL encourages schools, school officials, and administrators alike to adopt a uniform definition of “bullying,” to adopt a uniform definition of “protected class,” and to adopt peer-to-peer mentoring programs, school counseling programs, and other mediation programs that can educate students, teachers, and administrators on the effects of bullying. As the report accompanying the resolution describes, bullying is often confused with mere teenage drama and can be overlooked. More than 160,000 students in the United States stay home from school every day because they fear being bullied. An astonishing 14% of high school students have actually considered suicide and 7% did so because of bullying.

Bullying doesn’t affect children only; unfortunately, the effects of bullying can last a lifetime. Sadly, children who are exposed to bullying are 4.3 times more likely to end up with an anxiety disorder as an adult. Moreover, before the days of social media, bullying was really only a problem on the school bus or at school. Now with the development of social media such as MySpace, Twitter, and Facebook, bullying can even be happening when the child is at home, the place he or she is supposed to feel safe. Because bullying is a major problem and because it can have such long-term effects, it is very important for young lawyers to take on this issue and do what we can to educate others about bullying and help alleviate the problem. This initiative is just another good reason to be involved in the ABA YLD and assist in this campaign.

Nelson Mandela said, “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” This year, the ABA YLD will be striving to educate on the effects of bullying. You can be a part of this initiative and get involved. Visit the website for more information. If you are interested in getting more involved in the ABA YLD, or have questions about what you can do in the Bullyproof initiative, please contact your district representative, District 25, Anita Barksdale and District 26, Jenny Smith. You can learn more about the ABA YLD here.