Abstract
Workplace bullying in higher education is a devastating phenomenon affecting faculty, staff, and students. The term workplace bullying represents repeated, sustained mistreatment of an individual(s) to cause harm, based on a perceived or existing power imbalance. Power imbalances emanate from both situational and positional power making workplace bullying difficult to rectify. While extant research existed on workplace bullying at traditional tenure-granting institutions, literature was not available on the lived experiences of bullied faculty at non-tenure granting universities and colleges. In this qualitative study, I explored the lived experiences of bullied faculty, their feelings of the efficacy of policies and procedures related to reporting bullying complaints, as well as the role of a power imbalance in perpetuating and in interfering with the dissolution of workplace bullying. The purpose of the study was to decide if the circumstances of workplace bullying of faculty at non-tenure granting institution were like or different from those reported in the existing literature. This study concluded that workplace bullying at a non-tenure-granting university was systemic and reinforced by administrative silence, social influence, and the absence of policy protections. Findings emphasized the need for explicit anti-bullying policy, leadership accountability, and faculty empowerment to foster climates of dignity and respect. In this context, faculty’s experiences with workplace bullying were not impacted by a lack of tenure protections.Keywords: workplace bullying, higher education, tenure, non-tenure