Bias Incident Support, Education, and Reporting Policy and Protocol

POLICY

The intent of this policy is to establish a process through which students, staff, and faculty members who experience bias may

  • communicate their concerns and have them heard,
  • receive support,
  • have conflicts mediated and/or resolved through restorative practice, and,
  • if needed, may participate in developing effective community responses.

Three principles inform the College’s response to bias:

Care
In bias incidents, harm is caused to individuals, groups, and the campus community. When anyone reports such incidents or acts, the College seeks to mitigate impact, support harmed parties, and restore community to the best of its ability.

Education
Reporting bias calls for education. Such reporting sets in motion the College’s efforts to address the occurrence, to educate the campus community, and to prevent the recurrence of bias.

Change
Bias reporting activates change of the kind that can only be generated by institutional commitment, attention, and resources. Bias reports also make it possible to consider whether individual experiences or incidents are in fact systemic in nature and require transformative action.

Institutional and Community Responsibilities

In accordance with its educational mission, and as befits an experimenting institution, the College is responsible for ensuring that all members of its community have the ability to learn and work in an environment that is free from intimidation, hostility, or threat. Fulfilling its fundamental teaching and learning mission requires the College to recognize the necessity to protect free inquiry, while it also recognizes that hatred and bias prevent unhindered inquiry. Thus, at the same time that the College promotes and is committed to free inquiry, it is also essential that it provides clear means by which bias incidents can be reported.

Hampshire College strongly encourages any student, staff, or faculty who is subjected to or who witnesses bias incidents occurring on campus to report incidents. This includes incidents at college-sponsored events, or during activities off campus involving Hampshire students, staff, and faculty, or their guests. After such reporting is received, responders will collect information and generate strategies for communicating with, educating, mediating between the involved parties, and/or devising methods for repairing harm. As appropriate, these actions will be communicated to the larger campus community.

Any retaliation against individuals who report experiencing an alleged bias incident or against individuals who report witnessing such an incident is strictly prohibited and subject to College disciplinary action. Fact-finding on the part of responders, alone, regarding a reported bias incident does not constitute harassment.

Definitions

Bias

Negative bias is a pre-formed negative opinion or attitude toward an individual or a group of individuals who possess common characteristics such as race, religion, ancestry, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, mental or physical disability, or other categories protected by federal, state, or local statutes.

Bias Incident

Any act that targets or demeans individuals or a group of individuals based on  perceived race, religion, ancestry, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, mental or physical disability, or other categories protected by federal, state, or local statutes. A bias act can create an unsafe or hostile environment or have a negative psychological, emotional, or physical effect on an individual, group, or community. To be considered a bias incident, the act is not required to be a crime under any federal, state, or local statutes, nor does it have to violate College policy. Bias incidents may occur regardless of whether the act is legal, illegal, intentional, or unintentional. The severity of a bias incident, and the College’s response to  incidents, can vary based on factors including context and behavior, location, pre-meditation, and whether the incident presents a threat to safety.

Incidents that are determined to constitute discrimination, harassment, or retaliation will be addressed following the policies in the Student Handbook or Employee Manual, as appropriate. If an incident is determined to be a possible hate crime, the College will report to the police, and cooperate with them in investigating any hate crime as defined by Massachusetts state hate crime statute.

Reporting Bias Incidents

Hampshire College students, staff, and faculty have several means by which to report bias incidents:

  • Calling Hampshire College Campus Safety and Wellbeing at 413.559.5424.
  • Submitting a web form online; reporting via a form includes the option to report anonymously or as a witness or third party.
  • Completing a form at any of the following offices:
    • Residence Life and Student Engagement
    • Human Resources
    • Health & Counseling
    • Transformative Justice and Antiracism
    • Accessibility Resources and Services (OARS)

Anonymous reporting form

Non-anonymous form

Response to Bias Incidents

Responders (Senior Director of Student Affairs, Campus Advocacy, Prevention, Education, and Safety; Director of OARS; Senior Director of Student Affairs, Student Success and Retention; Associate Vice President for Human Resources; Assistant Dean for Transformative Justice and Antiracism) to reports of bias incidents will review all reports, as a Bias Report Team (BRT), to learn as much as possible about the concerning situation and to develop an appropriate response. Administrative processes include listening to and talking with involved parties.

The BRT is coordinated by the Division of Justice, Equity, and Antiracism (JEA) and records are maintained by JEA. A coordinator, responsible for the day-to-day management and coordination of the BRT, resides in JEA.

If the reporting party is a Hampshire College student or student organization, the College assesses care needs, conducts outreach, and refers to campus partners, as appropriate. If the reporting party is a Hampshire College faculty or staff member, the BRT responder, serving as the lead for the reported incident, works with appropriate parties to assess care needs, conducts outreach, and refers to College partners such as Human Resources or the Dean of Faculty Office, as appropriate. If the reporting party is not a Hampshire College community member, the lead responder or designee conducts outreach, as appropriate.

Responders to bias incidents will communicate with the involved parties to develop a shared understanding of the incident, its impact, and how to re-establish a living, learning, and work environment that is conducive to executing the educational mission of the College.

Each semester, the BRT will assess and analyze the handling of reported cases, will look for trends, needs, etc., and will produce a summary report on the number, nature, and resolution of bias incidents. Annually, the senior vice president for justice, equity, and antiracism, dean of students, and dean of faculty will identify possible interventions directed toward prevention and will consider and determine whether individual incidents rise to the level of systemic challenges in need of transformation.

All responders are responsible for:

  • Maintaining appropriate confidentiality
  • Treating all parties with respect and sensitivity
  • Centering Hampshire College’s mission and academic freedom in their work
  • Directing affected parties to information on campus support services
  • Providing all involved parties:
    • clear information regarding the process that will be followed,
    • an explanation of the timeline involved, and
    • an explanation regarding the resolution of the reported incident.

Bias responders or any response team they convene are not disciplinary bodies.

When evaluating a bias incident, responders can:

  • Provide care to those negatively impacted
  • Facilitate restorative or transformative process to mend institutional, interpersonal, and/or intergroup conflict
  • Facilitate education and dialogue
  • Coach administrators or supervisors
  • Utilize response data to inform policy and practice
  • Offer recommendations to mitigate the impact of bias

When evaluating a bias incident, the responders cannot:

  • Propose or facilitate formal discipline of faculty, staff, or students
  • Terminate faculty or staff
  • Expel or formally discipline students
  • Censor or punish people for offensive or repugnant comments that are protected speech
  • Change curriculum
  • Replace difficult or hard conversations between faculty, staff, and students

> View a flowchart of Hampshire College's Bias Incident Response Protocol

Effective December 19, 2023

Acknowledgments: American University, Beloit College, and Oregon State University

Stay In Touch With The Division of Justice, Equity, and Antiracism