The students’ support for the campaign against violence is an important condition for the school's ability to defeat physical violence. When it comes to emotional violence it is a necessary condition. This kind of violence, expressed by humiliation, exclusion, and ostracism, poses a particularly difficult challenge. Compared with physical violence, emotional violence is harder to identify, more elusive to confront, and presents both teachers and parents with complex educational and moral dilemmas. Many teachers believe that confronting problems such as ostracism, emotional abuse, or name-calling is beyond the scope of their responsibility. They do not feel they have the tools to deal with such behaviors and doubt they have the right to interfere in an area perceived as part of the students’ private world.

Teachers’ limitations are particularly obvious when they treat emotional violence as if it were no more than a disciplinary problem. Disciplinary action requires a clear definition of the problem in order to determine unambiguously when the behavior occurs, when it stops, and when to take punitive action. These conditions usually do not exist when it comes to emotional violence. Therefore, teachers who perceive their role in terms of the old authority experience a singular helplessness when it comes to emotional violence. Not so teachers who perceive their role in terms of the new authority. The understanding that authority does not necessarily mean garnering obedience or immediate results but is built by exercising presence, perseverance, enlisting support, and building public opinion, opens many possibilities for action. The new authority's reliance on networking and alliances gives it a clear advantage in connecting to students. From this perspective, teachers and students find themselves fighting shoulder to shoulder against the violence that affects everyone. However, teachers must not give up their responsibility to lead. Only when they stand at the forefront of the antiviolence struggle can they gain the students’ trust.