Thursday, September 24, 2015

App. State to introduce “Bias Incident Response Teams” . The New Brownshirts?

Campus Reform reports:
Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, has announced a series of initiatives to improve diversity on campus. The student newspaper, The Appalachian, reported on September 22 that a “bias incident response process” will now enforce the campus’s harassment policy.

Citing concerns that the university is having difficulty attracting and retaining minority faculty, Bindu Jayne, vice chancellor for equity, diversity, and compliance, told The Appalachian that the goal of the initiative is “to have conversations about what personal steps we all can take to be cognizant of how inclusive of an environment we are creating.” Last year, 13.6% of incoming freshmen and 9.8% of faculty were members of ethnic minorities.

A bias incident response team, also known as a BIRT, will review and address complaints filed with the university’s Office of Equity, Diversity, and Compliance. Accordingto The Appalachian, the BIRT will consist of “staff members from the various offices responsible for the creation of the initiatives.”

BIRTs have appeared at colleges nationwide in recent years; however, each university has its own definition of a “bias incident.”
No word yet on whether the "bias incident response teams" will be concerned with discrimination against Christians, libertarians, and registered members of the Republican party on campus.