Psychological harassment

Psychological harassment (or mobbing) is defined as a series of hostile comments or actions, repeated frequently over a fairly long time, which aim to upset, isolate, marginalise or even exclude one or more people in the place where they work or study.

Examples of psychological harassment

• Repeated and unjustified criticisms and denigration
• Ridicule and humiliation
• Assigning tasks that are far below someone’s skills, or obviously too complex
• Refusal to assign any tasks at all
• Refusal to engage, resulting in isolation
• Unwanted contact and communications, at the work/study place or outside
• Breaches of privacy

Harassment of any form is not tolerated at the University of Lausanne under any circumstances.

Cyberbullying involves repeatedly making threatening, hateful, insulting or degrading comments – either by using images or in writing – using communication technologies (social media, forums, text messages, chats, emails), with the aim of hurting, threatening, humiliating, ridiculing or excluding someone.

Cyberbullying can be a form of psychological harassment or, if there are sexual connotations, sexual harassment.

Examples of cyberbullying 

• Insults
• Threats
• Sexist, racist, homophobic or similar remarks or jokes
• Spreading false rumours
• Distributing hurtful, fake or naked photos or videos
• Creating fake profiles with hurtful content