A national center with a mission to prevent bullying has been created at the University at

Buffalo, thanks to an alumna who has spent years watching the problem get worse and finally

said enough is enough.

Jean M. Alberti, a clinical and educational psychologist, has given a generous donation to

the UB Graduate School of Education for the new resource center, which will research and

identify ways to stop bullying among schoolchildren — a heated national topic in recent

months following some high-profile incidents.

This is Alberti's effort to do something. "I've been an activist all my adult life,"

Alberti said. "I wanted to make a difference, and this is an area — in the past 10 or 12

years I've been investigating it — that is on the increase instead of the decrease.

"We need to change the way people look at this problem to reflect the message that bullying

is child abuse by children," Alberti said. "No one I've ever heard or read about talks about

bullying in that language. Until we change the language, we can't change people's

understanding of the problem."

The first event of the Jean M. Alberti Center for Prevention and Bullying, Abuse and School

Violence was Tuesday's daylong symposium attended by more than 400 area teachers,

administrators child psychologists and law enforcement officials.

Dorothy Espelage, a University of Illinois professor and renowned expert in the field, gave

the keynote address and said most of the bullying prevention programs being touted by New York

State were developed years ago and simply are not working.

They don't address issues such as cyberbullying or bullying someone because of their sexual

orientation, Espelage said. And they're not equipping kids with the social and communicative

skills they need to help them combat the problem, she said.

Instead, Espelage said, bullies are seen as the popular, cool kids.

"Other children see that and copy that behavior," said Alberti, who also is a former

elementary teacher. "What is being done has not been effective."

Both touched on the tragedy that occurred in western Massachusetts in January, when a 15-

year-old girl hanged herself after being harassed mercilessly by fellow students.

Espelage wasn't surprised.

"It's happening all over," she said, "but we heard about this one because it was a little

more sensational."

But Alberti was surprised — and encouraged — that the accused bullies were

charged.

"If there were more negative consequences, parents will see it differently, our educators

will see it differently, and children will see it differently," she said.

"Until we do something to wake up society and create sufficient outrage, that activity is

going to continue, because children are getting away with it," Alberti said.

Alberti — who lives in the Chicago area, but earned her doctorate from UB —

chose UB for her gift, after she was invited to campus in 2008 to lecture on her concept of

bullying.

"I've wanted to create it someplace," Alberti said, "and it was a matter of what

institution would have the passion necessary for its creation."

Alberti said she knows of no other center like it in the country.

While Alberti would not discuss how much she donated to UB, Mary Gresham, dean of UB's

Graduate School of Education, called it "incredibly generous."

Those who attended the symposium Tuesday were pleased with what they heard.

"I think it's an issue in every school," said John Bresnock, a counselor at the Charter

School for Applied Technologies.

The Cheektowaga Central School District has several prevention programs, such as a "Bully

Patrol" and a "Bully Box," where students can report incidents, said Lauren Etu, a school

psychologist in the district.

But after sitting in on the symposium, she feels it may be good to evaluate them to see if

they're working.

"Kids can't learn if they're not safe," said Marge Hendra, who teaches graduate students in

UB's Teacher Education Institute. Hendra tells her students — future teachers — to

create a sense of community in their classrooms to help counteract that pressure on kids.

Although, she said, that can be a challenge for teachers, who are so focused on raising

academic standards.

"The desire is there, but the time to do it is not always there," Hendra said. "It's

difficult for teachers to add another dimension to their day."