Lisa, 19, college freshman, bullied

Lisa is a college freshman at a small Midwestern University. Her racial background is Japanese, though she was born in the U.S. and is a U.S. citizen. From the very start, her roommate, Donna, seems to dislike Lisa for no apparent reason.

One day, she overhears her roommate referring to her as ‘the gook’, and stung, confronts the other girl. Donna brushes off Lisa’s complaints and continues talking with her friend. Not long after that incident, a boy in her class approaches her and makes a sexually demeaning comment with a racial basis.

This is only the start. At a party, several young men approach her and make suggestive remarks to her about the supposed sexual promiscuity and attitudes of Asian women. One morning, she enters the dorm bathroom to find an offensive racial epithet scrawled on the mirror with her own lipstick.

The rest of her cosmetics and toiletries have been emptied or smashed in the sink below the graffiti. Lisa is about to wipe the graffiti off the mirror when another girl enters the bathroom.

Annie is also 19 and a freshman. She has witnessed some of the exclusion and harassment to which Lisa has been subjected but wasn’t aware of the magnitude until she walked into the bathroom and found Lisa in tears, about to clean the mirror.

Lisa turns on her and accuses her of coming in to see the effect of the destruction. Annie, having attended an anti-bullying presentation over the summer assures Lisa that she had nothing to do with it, that she is appalled and shocked, and that she would like to help.

She explains to Lisa that the graffiti can help the college track down the ‘artist’ and bring consequences to bear on her. She also explains the college’s anti-harassment policy, and offers to go with Lisa to a proctor and help her explain what is going on.

Because there is an anti-harassment policy in place, Lisa’s complaint is taken seriously. As a first step, Lisa’s roommate Donna is placed on probation and required to attend an anti-bullying program.

She is also assigned to a different dorm and told to have no contact with Lisa. The college paper publishes a condemnatory editorial about racial and sexual harassment, and reminds students of the anti-bullying policy and the consequences attached to it. Lisa now knows her rights and is supported in seeking action against any further harassment.