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Dr. Sameer Hinduja, Professor in the �������� School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, is internationally recognized for his groundbreaking research on the impact of the virtual world and social media on violence and student safety.  He recently shared his expertise with the Federal Commission on School Safetyheaded by U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions in Washington, D.C.

The Cyber & Classroom Connection

Hinduja kicked off the meeting by sharing findings that there is significant overlap between students who experience cyberbullying online and those who experience bullying at school.

“In our most recent study of a nationally-representative sample of approximately 5,700 middle and high-school students across America, 34% say that they have been cyber-bullied during their lifetime,” Hinduja said. “In addition, 12% revealed that they had cyberbullied others during their lifetime. So that’s one-third of youth across America indicating they’ve been bullied online, and about one in ten stating they have bullied others online. We also know that more than 80% of those being cyberbullied are also being bullied at school, indicating a strong overlap.”

Four Recommendations for Long-Term Change

After sharing that the ad-hoc strategies schools often employ are lacking in terms of lasting impact, Hinduja shared his four recommendations to the Federal Government for comprehensive and systemic change:

1. Create a positive school climate of connectedness.
2. Modify social norms to reward responsible social media behavior.
3. Tap into students’ knowledge to help set achievable standards.
4. Implement resilience programming for empowerment. 

In closing, Dr. Hinduja recommended that the Federal Government provide more personnel and funding to schools, add funding for research to make sure initiatives are optimized, seek better ways to get best practices into the hands of those who need them, and finally, promote accountability at the school, state, and federal levels.

“This will help ensure that adequate resources are provided so that our students can thrive, and our communities can flourish,” Hinduja said.