What students should know about the latest bias reporting system

In the most recent response to a bias report, Vice President for Student Development Steve Bisese sent out an email on October 26 alerting the UR campus that after the demonstration and counter-protest, students have reported incidents of name-calling and offensive social media posts. The Collegian looked into the new bias reporting pilot system introduced in the beginning of this semester. 

In an email sent to all students, staff and faculty, Amy Howard, the senior administrative officer for equity and community, announced the new system on August 31, noting that the previous Bias Resource Team has been “dissolved.” 

After submitting a report, there is a core team consisting of staff related to the people involved in the report who will work on the case. The core team members include, but are not limited to, the college deans, university provost and chief human resources officer, as listed on the infographic. 

From there, the team will follow up with the people involved, gather information regarding the incident and provide needed resources to the parties involved. The infographic stated that the report can be referred to different areas like the Title IX process, conduct officers of the Student Conduct Council and the UR Police Department.

There were also new changes to standards of student conduct. Prohibited bias-related conduct was defined as banned conduct “motivated in whole or part by bias against race, religion, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression or disability,” as listed in the current Standards of Student Conduct.

A microaggression is reportable, and might be a bias incident but not a conduct violation, said Genoni. 

“When there isn’t something that's a violation of the Standards of Student Conduct, there’s always going to be a conversation and there’s always going to be an attempt and a hope for education. I just want to be very clear that not everything is a conduct violation, but everything is taken seriously and everything is handled,” Genoni said.

Another change will be the end of  “mass emails” regarding the occurrence of bias-related incidents, unless there is a “safety concern,” according to the RCSGA meeting transcript of the information session. 

“I think in particular, an email that goes out sometimes comes across as performative, it’s certainly not intended as performative and also doesn’t achieve what anyone whether it’s the writer or the recipient hopes to get from any of it,” Genoni said. The ending of the mass emails is to ensure healthier forms of communication and solutions for the community, Genoni added.

Two information sessions were hosted with the Westhampton College Student Government and the Richmond College Student Government Association. The sessions covered the changes made to the bias reporting system and were led by Dean of Westhampton College Mia Reinoso Genoni and Dean of Student Equity and Inclusion. Morgan Russell-Stokes. 

The powerpoint presentation in the sessions provided a step-by-step infographic detailing the process of submitting a report that is also posted on the system’s new webpage.

During the meeting with the student governments, the term “healing spaces” was mentioned in the presentation. When asked about the term, Genoni said the team always wanted there to be “healing” and it can vary from one-on-one conversations to community dialogues, depending on the situation. 

The main goals of the new pilot are to provide a timely response, help parties involved get the assistance they need and ensure that appropriate responses are found, Genoni said.

Junior Yamir Chapman said he has used the previous bias reporting model and the new pilot system. 

Chapman described a previous usage with the old model where he received one email that confirmed that their report was received, but never met with anyone in person regarding the incident.

His encounters with the newer model were different. Chapman shared about having in-person meetings with Joe Boehman, dean of Richmond College, and Patricia Herrera, interim associate dean of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. 

“[Herrera] updated me on what she was actively doing to handle everything and then even followed up with me again to make sure this is something I wanted to do,” Chapman said. 

Junior Amal Ali attended one of the information sessions. They expressed that the new system was good at using aspects from the previous to create a more effective model.

“I have high hopes that the pilot will result in more timely and productive responses to bias incidents on campus, as it brings together an incredible team of people all across campus who have been doing the work to address bias on campus in their own respective offices,” Ali said.

Community members can provide feedback for the pilot system by filling out the feedback form that is provided on the new webpage.

Contact news writer Alexa Mora at alexa.mora@richmond.edu.