Kajsa was bullied by another student for two years. She was hit by a bout of depressions and she thought about committing suicide. The student got off with a warning. “But I lost two years of my life”, she says.
On Kajsa’s kitchen table there are binders, files and stacks of paper. She has collected quite a lot during the time she most of all would like to forget. Old e-mails, reports to the Disciplinary Board and an application on compensation for therapy.
Her classmates dissociated
It started when she was about to write her BA thesis. She was unsure about her choice of subject and when the tutor offered the course participants a ready-made thesis subject, in which there was a chance to be published in an anthology, Kajsa accepted the offer.
“When I started the next course I noticed that something had happened. Two of my classmates acted strange. They didn’t respond when addressed. A female classmate, to whom Kajsa had a normal relation earlier, had also changed.”
“She stopped talking to me and when she said something it was sarcastic. It was small subtle signals, but hit my heart deeply.”
The spreading of rumors was behind the cause
This treatment continued during the whole course. Kajsa didn’t understand what had happened, but realized that her own behavior started to change. From being a social person, she started to seclude herself. When she was about to speak in front of her class she started to blush and stutter, something that not had happened before. The explanation why the class acted as they did, she got at the end of the course. The woman, whom Kajsa earlier thought was her friend, had spread rumors about her, and how she had gotten her essay subject.
“She thought I was brainless and that I supposedly got the essay subject on incorrect grounds. That it must have been because of my looks. That I and my teacher had an affair, an absurd accusation.”
“I cried for three days at a stretch. My world fell apart. During my studies I have really made an effort to be taken seriously and not be seen as the cute girl.”
The break down
It turned out that the classmate had done an extensive job. Students and teachers had received e-mails and telephone calls in which it had been implied that the teacher was charmed by Kajsa and therefore had given her advantages. Even a student in Uppsala, who studied at distance, had been informed of the accusations. Some rejected it, others believed it, but in principle all of them kept a distance.
“I used to love being at the institution, but now not very many talked to me. I had repeated thoughts about suicide, but I didn’t dare to anything to anybody. It is an incredible taboo, especially when you have children.”
The support from the institution inadequate
The accused teacher, who also felt bad about the rumors, was offered paid therapy by the institution. Kajsa’s experience is that she didn’t get any support at all. The signals to Kajsa were that she exaggerated and that she should keep fighting. To get some kind of vindication also proved difficult. The accused teacher reported the classmate to the Disciplinary Board, which gave the student a warning. However, as they do not deal with matters of work environment, the only chance to get vindication was to address the Head of the Department.
“I sat with him and recounted the situation and cried. He only gave me a slap on the back. He didn’t give a damn about me. My work environment was not equivalent to a teacher’s. Not once did he ask me what he could do for me. Not until I was about to leave did he say: ‘By the way, would you like to have a support person?’ ”
Realizes the deficiencies
When Lundagård reaches the Head of the Department he admits that he could have done more for Kajsa.
“She said that she didn’t need any help, but afterwards I had come to understand that she did need help.”
She sat in your office crying. Couldn’t you draw the conclusion that she felt bad?
“Yes, and that was why I asked if she needed a support person.”
What could you have done differently?
“We could of course have followed it up better. We could have got in touch with her to see how she was doing.”
And why didn’t you do that?
“Because I didn’t understand until afterwards that she needed help.”
Hopes for improvement
Kajsa is now back at the institution to write her master‘s thesis. But she will not spend a lot of time at the University. The impressions are still there, but she hopes that her case can help us realize that many parts of the University lacks knowledge about how to deal with bullying and problems with the work environment.
“I’ve lost two years of my life. I have of course taken academic points, but with blood, sweat and tears. If I had been younger and not invested so much time and money on my studies I would have left long ago.”
Kajsa is an alias.
