Rutgers takes Day 1 pledge against bullying, harassment

As the five-year anniversary of Tyler Clementi’s death approaches, incoming Rutgers students took part in a national anti-bullying campaign at the start of the 2015-16 school year.

The Tyler Clementi Foundation’s Day 1 Campaign urges educators to share a universal message with students to make it clear that “any form of bullying, harassment or humiliation will not be tolerated” — and to get confirmation from students that they agree. Rutgers University was among the first colleges to participate when Richard Edwards, chancellor of Rutgers University-New Brunswick, read the pledge at the Aug. 30 convocation.

“We have been hearing from teachers for a long time that the best way to tackle bullying in schools is very simply and effectively having a person in leadership make a clear statement of what is expected of you and what will not be tolerated,” said Sean Kosofsky, executive director of The Tyler Clementi Foundation. Tyler Clementi’s parents, Jane and Joe, started the foundation to help promote safe, inclusive and respectful social environments in homes, schools, campuses, churches and the digital world for vulnerable youth, LGBT youth and their allies.

More than 3.2 million students identify as victims of bullying each year, and suicide ranks as the second-most likely cause of death among America’s college students, according to the foundation. Tyler Clementi, a first-semester freshman, ended his life on Sept. 22, 2010, after that learning his roommate used a webcam to spy on him during a romantic encounter with a man and encouraged others via social media to watch another time.

In addition to the Day 1 pledge being read at Rutgers-New Brunswick, all incoming students will receive the pledge and information about resources and support available on campus. Susan Furrer, executive director of the Tyler Clementi Center at Rutgers, worked with the foundation to adapt the pledge for a college audience.

“We’re hoping this can be a model for other universities throughout the country, to help create safe and respectful environments for college students,” Furrer said.

The center is a joint project by Rutgers and the Tyler Clementi Foundation and supports the Day 1 Campaign.

To spread the word about Day 1, another Rutgers program, the Traumatic Loss Coalition (TLC) at University Behavioral Health Care has shared the Day 1 information with its network of  nearly 5,000 supporters across New Jersey. The TLC is a statewide program with a dual mission of suicide prevention and response to traumatic loss in New Jersey’s schools and communities.

More than 1,000 people mostly from throughout the United States have downloaded the pledge from Day1Campaign.com. Organizers say the campaign is a simple, inexpensive way to thwart harassment because it requires a person in authority who clearly states what behavior is expected and what behavior is not tolerated at the start of a school year, team season or job. The final element is verbal and/or written confirmation from students.

Participants are urged to share how they are following through on the pledge on Twitter (#Day1 and @TylerClementi) or by emailing the foundation.

“There’s something powerful about signing your name to something to make you more likely to do it,” Kosofsky said.

Several educators and celebrities have backed the Day 1 Campaign. The American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association support the effort, and Dorothy Espelage, a national bullying expert and child development professor at University of Illinois, Champaign, said it would be a major accomplishment, “If every school in the U.S. would commit to participate fully in #Day 1.”

Celebrities including Caitlyn Jenner, Susan Sarandon, Megan Mullally and Sarah Jessica Parker have shown support.PEOPLE magazine highlighted the Day1 Campaign in an interview with Jane and Joe Clementi, who said had a similar program been in place Tyler’s freshman year, his death might have been prevented.

"I think it would have helped because people don't think about bullying until it happens," Joe Clementi told PEOPLE. "If you have somebody draw attention to it in the beginning and warn people of the expectations, they are more likely to meet that. If you ignore it and let people figure it out on their own, people make the wrong mistakes. This is an attempt to have them make one less mistake.”