NYC to Hold College Bullying Roundtable

New York City council speaker Christine Quinn, together with the leaders of New York University and the City University of New York, has invited other leaders of the city's higher education institutions to a roundtable meeting this Thursday to discuss ways to combat bullying among college students.

According to a news release from the city council, "Speaker Quinn, City University of New York Chancellor Matthew Goldstein and New York University President John Sexton invited leaders of the city's other higher education institutions to meet for a discussion about how to collectively ensure that campuses are safe and supportive environments for all students. In the wake of Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi's suicide, new attention has been raised about the deadly consequences vicious bullying can have. We will take this opportunity to share best practices and successful programmatic models so that we can all learn from each other and lend our collective efforts to ensuring that our students have available to them the resources and support they need when in distress. We also want to discuss what steps other institutions, civic groups and government leaders can take to help advance our efforts."

An invitation was extended late yesterday to the leaders of more than 50 universities and colleges representing the majority of higher education institutions across the five boroughs, according to city council spokeswoman Eunic Ortiz. She said the meeting, which will take place at New York University, would likely form the basis of ongoing initiatives to address bullying on the city's college campuses.

"Speaker Quinn's office is committed to working on the issue beyond this meeting," she said. "The efforts will not stop at this meeting."

In addition to the recent suicides of Clementi and at least four gay teens across the country, two antigay assaults took place last weekend in New York City, at the historic Stonewall Inn in the West Village and in the Chelsea neighborhood. Arrests have been made in both cases.