Eastern professionals shared the many negative impacts of bullying during a presentation on Thursday.

Janice Collins, assistant professor of journalism, hosted a presentation entitled: Town Hall Tonight: Speaking the Unspoken Addressing the Bullies in Us All.

Mildred Pearson, an associate professor of education, described how a young girl about 12 years old committed suicide by tying a scarf around her neck and hanged herself because of bullying.

Another girl barely 11 years old ended her life with a gun because of constant bullying.

They are only two of the many children that fall victim every day, she said.

“More than 15 million people have been bullied and only about 2 million have told someone.” Pearson said. “Bullying can take place due to a false sense of power or rank in individuals especially at a young age.”

She went on to explain that 85 percent of the people involved in bullying at school are bystanders or people that just sit and watch.

“It’s not just children,” she said. “Adults are also bullied in their home, their marriage, workplace, and sometimes even with their friends.”

Mike Tozer, a counselor at Eastern, also gave his opinions about bullying and how it is triggered.

“There are many different types of bullying,” Tozer said. “The most common are verbal, social, physical, cyber-bullying and cyber-stalking.”

He talked about how there were different factors leading to why people bully. “Homosexuality is a big issue because most middle and high school kids try to avoid labels,” he said. “Unfortunately there are those kids that would rather die than be labeled ‘gay’.”

When Tozer asked the audience if they had ever been bullied, almost everyone’s hand went up.

Andrew Robinson, a pastor on Eastern’s campus, expressed his concern for the types of peer pressure that happen to provoke bullying behaviors.

“People ages 5 through 24 have committed suicide due to bullying.” Robinson said. “This is a statistic that is mainly caused by the victim having a low sense of self-esteem or feelings of not having a way out.”

He adds that everyone needs to have someone that they can go to when they need help or when they need someone to talk to.

“Religious coping strategies work as well,” he said. “These could be praying, counseling by the pastor, etc.”

Robby Milton, a junior at Charleston High School, came to speak at the meeting. He suffered the harsh physical blows from a couple of bullies during his life.

“I was on the bus when someone of whom I thought was my friend came up behind me and struck me with a rope several times on the back leaving large welts,” Milton said. “Another time I was cut in the throat with a pair of scissors.”

He asked his mother to help him with the problem.

“She handled it quite well,” he said.

Tim Bell, a junior journalism major, added his thoughts during the meeting.

“I witnessed bullying every day in high school.” Bell said. “I was bullied myself, you just need to find something you can believe in and go there because it helped me escape from my problems.”

Diane Hutchens, a faculty member at Charleston High School said that a main form of bullying is through sarcasm.

“It is not funny to those who don’t understand it very well,” she said.

She also encouraged students to become more involved in clubs and sports in school in order to create a foundation of support when they need to talk to someone.

“This is the best way to make a good friend that you can talk to whenever you need a way to express your feelings,” Hutchens said.

The event was televised by WEIU-TV Channel 51. It will be aired today at 6 p.m., Saturday at midnight and Sunday at 5 p.m.

Elizabeth Grubart can be reached 581-2812 or [email protected]