SOFT BULLYING AND MICROAGGRESSION WITHIN ORGANIZATIONS AND ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS

There is an insidious way of silencing those who are not in lockstep with the majority in organizations and academic institutions. It is called soft bullying and microaggression. These are sometimes used to mute and muzzle minority views and dissenting voices. The results is that the divergent ideas, conflicting views, and disagreements that are essential for the health and evolution of any organization, especially academic institutions, are lost. To mute and muzzle is to engage in practices that devolve and decay the foundations of the academic institution in which they occur, and it conflicts with the standards for respectful academic discourse held by the academy.