January 24, 2008

Thirty academic mobbing cases since 2005

Below, in alphabetical order, are 30 academics whose troubles, as reported in the press or on the web, appear to fit the definition of workplace mobbing. Reviewing these cases is useful for understanding the variety of origins of the phenomenon and the different ways cases play out.
  1. Jury refuses to convict Sami Al-Arian (University of South Florida); he is eliminated anyway
  2. Jonathan Bean on guard, surviving at Southern Illinois (Carbondale)
  3. Jerry Becker and Elisabeth Reichert in board presentation at SIUC
  4. Stephen Berman is ousted from University of Saskatchewan
  5. At Sheffield, Aubrey Blumsohn is forced out, starts blog
  6. Student Seung-Hui Cho goes postal at Virginia Tech, 33 dead
  7. Firestorm over Ward Churchil at University of Colorado
  8. Suicide of David Clarke at Southern Illinois (Carbondale)
  9. At last, Jean Cobbs vindicated at Virginia State
  10. Dramatist George Cron is ousted from Missouri State
  11. Shiraz Dossa goes to conference, is mobbed, keeps job (St. Francis Xavier University)
  12. Christopher Dussold's resistance at Southern Illinois (Edwardsville)
  13. Mohammed Elmasry retires at Waterloo — mobbing aborted
  14. Jews mob a Jew: Norman Finkelstein gone from DePaul
  15. Redress for Joan Friedenberg at Southern Illinois (Carbondale)
  16. Ouster of Frank Glamser and Gary Stringer at Southern Mississippi
  17. Biswanath Halder cybermobbed at Case Western Reserve, goes postal
  18. Hector Hammerly (Simon Fraser University) is dead
  19. Filmmakers John Hookham and Gary MacLennan suspended from QUT for newspaper article
  20. Harassment of Gabrielle Horne continues at Dalhousie
  21. K C Johnson alive and kicking at Brooklyn College
  22. Biology professor Robert J. Klebe files suit (UTHSC San Antonio)
  23. David Mullen suspended for words at Cape Breton University
  24. Physician Nancy Olivieri still battling in court (University of Toronto)
  25. Lethbridge administrators attack Tom Robinson for his website
  26. John Soloski fighting back at University of Georgia
  27. Successful mobbing of Harvard President Lawrence Summers
  28. Medaille College settles with Therese Warden & Uhuru Watson
  29. James D. Watson broken for breaking a taboo (Cold Spring Harbor Lab)
  30. Supreme Court victory for Wanda Young (Memorial of Newfoundland)
More details and info from: http://arts.uwaterloo.ca/~kwesthue/mobnews06.htm

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I believe that my mobbing comes from a local coalition at the university. I believe that their actions have been supported by senior management at the university.

They have wrecked my academic career.

I remain... stressed...ill ... fighting ... and in post.

Aphra Behn

Anonymous said...

Wow-- 6 out of 30 at Southern Illinois; quite a place; seems they never learn.

Anonymous said...

I will add another institution to your list: Northwest Arkansas Community College in Arkansas practices mobbing on a regular basis.