The failure to properly stop abuse might make you lose your position:
The Mike Rice Case Study
In the spring of 2013, a scandal rocked the sports world: a video was given to ESPN that showed a college coach who was yelling, furious, swearing, humiliating. His rants were full of homophobic slurs.
The coach was instantly fired; one of his assistant coaches resigned, the Athletic Director resigned, the legal team that had not counselled instant termination resigned, and faculty were calling for the resignation of the university president.
This kind of crisis can be avoided. Organizations can better protect victims, rehabilitate perpetrators, keep positions safe, and protect the institution's reputation.
This course teaches why we keep seeing these kinds of crises and what we can do to proactively prepare for them and avoid them.
The Trappings Of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The firing of Rutgers' coach, Mike Rice, is a highly relevant case study for the R8 System because it has the trappings of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In other words, Mike Rice was able to be charming, kind and emotionally aware when he wanted to, but could also shelve this persona behind the closed doors of practices.
Even more complex, and a repetition of the pattern we saw with Harvey Weinstein, Coach Rice could be highly abusive in public, at basketball games, and no one did anything or apparently said anything. It reveals the conflict in our system and in ourselves when we confront abuse. It is yet another indicator as to why we cannot figure out whether or not a whistleblower is a villain or a hero. Our conflicted feelings run deep.
Whistleblower, Eric Murdock had alerted the Athletic Director that abuse was occurring. Nothing effective was done to stop it. Murdock went to the media which is where whistleblowers end up when administrators do not stop the abuse.
It was the homophobia of Coach Mike Rice that really got the sport community distressed, as well as the faculty of Rutgers, who had lived through the suicide of bullied, gay student, Tyler Clementi three years before. He jumped off the George Washington bridge and his body was dragged from the river.
The key take away from this course is that we are conflicted when faced with abuse, or suffering abuse, and we need to practice speaking up because it does not come naturally.
Even more complex, and a repetition of the pattern we saw with Harvey Weinstein, Coach Rice could be highly abusive in public, at basketball games, and no one did anything or apparently said anything. It reveals the conflict in our system and in ourselves when we confront abuse. It is yet another indicator as to why we cannot figure out whether or not a whistleblower is a villain or a hero. Our conflicted feelings run deep.
Whistleblower, Eric Murdock had alerted the Athletic Director that abuse was occurring. Nothing effective was done to stop it. Murdock went to the media which is where whistleblowers end up when administrators do not stop the abuse.
It was the homophobia of Coach Mike Rice that really got the sport community distressed, as well as the faculty of Rutgers, who had lived through the suicide of bullied, gay student, Tyler Clementi three years before. He jumped off the George Washington bridge and his body was dragged from the river.
The key take away from this course is that we are conflicted when faced with abuse, or suffering abuse, and we need to practice speaking up because it does not come naturally.
In this course, you'll learn about
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Our confusion around adult bullying: is it passion or sadism?
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The dual personality of the adult bully
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The reasons victims struggle to speak up
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The tightrope administrators walk in handling abuse
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The psychology of whistleblowers
Course curriculum
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1
R8 Step 6: When Abuse leads to Job Loss
- How To Navigate This Course
- Introduction
- R8 6 Introduction 1
- R8 6 Introduction 2
- R8 6 Intro
- R8 6 Introduction Quiz
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2
R8 6 Module 1
- Module One: Passion or Sadism?
- R8 6 Module 1.2
- R8 6 Module 1.3
- R8 6 Module 1
- R8 6 Module 1 Quiz
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3
R8 6 Module 2
- Module Two: Why We Don't Report Abuse
- R8 6 Module 2
- R8 6 Module 2
- R8 6 Module 2 Quiz
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4
R8 6 Module 3
- Module Three: Why employers should know about Mike Rice
- R8 6 Module 3.1
- R8 6 Module 3.2
- R8 6 Module 3
- R8 6 Module 3 Quiz
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5
R8 6 Module 4
- Module Four: Conflicted response to abuse
- R8 6 Module 4.1
- R8 6 Module 4.2
- R8 6 Module 4
- R8 6 Module 4 Quiz
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6
R8 6 Module 5
- Module Five: Psychology of a Whistleblower
- R8 6 Module 5.1
- R8 6 Module 5.2
- R8 6 Module 5
- R8 6 Module 5 Quiz
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7
R8 6 Module 6
- Module Six: Satire of Mike Rice video
- R8 6 Module 6
- R8 6 Module 6
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8
R8 6 Workshop
- Workshop
- R8 6 Workshop
- R8 6 Workshop
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9
Assignment for Those Taking the Course for Pro-D or Continuing Ed Credits
- Assignment
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10
References
- References
Meet Your Instructor
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Instructor
Dr. Jennifer Fraser
Dr. Jennifer Fraser is an award-winning educator and best-selling author on Amazon. Featured in the Huffington Post, National Workplace Bullying Coalition; Toronto Star, Changing The Game Project; National Alliance for Youth Sports; and Edutopia along with many other media outlets and foundations, Jennifer advocates for the rights of students and individuals to learn in an abuse-free environment.
Since the publication of her third book, Teaching Bullies: Zero Tolerance on the Court or in the Classroom, Jennifer has been writing articles, and giving interviews and presentations across North America on the subject of abuse and bullying's impact on brains.
With a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Toronto, Jennifer's development of the R8 System is in response to the devastation of bullying and abuse to organizations. She draws on psychology and neuroscience to stress how harmful and scarring bullying and abuse are to brains.
Jennifer works with the brilliant StopIt! reporting system which she believes is the best way to keep students, student athletes, and employees safe, as well as organizational leaders informed. She has a forthcoming book entitled The Bullied Brain: What Neuroscience Can Teach Us About Brain Scars and How To Heal Them.