BIAS INCIDENT RESPONSE & SUPPORT

Xavier University is committed to creating and sustaining an environment in which all of the members of our community are welcomed, respected and supported.  Bias-related incidents and hate crimes are contrary to the very mission of the institution and are destructive to our community.

Response to bias incidents that occur in the Xavier community is managed through a collaborative process led by the Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion (OIDI). Reports indicating that a Xavier student has engaged in bias motivated behavior will be handled through collaboration between OIDI and the Dean of Students office. Reports indicating that a Xavier employee has engaged in bias motivated behavior will be handled though collaboration between OIDI, appropriate supervisors, and/or Human Resources. In all instances, Xavier will engage with the reporting parties and others who may have been harmed by the incident to provide support, assistance, and clarity about Xavier's institutional response.

In certain circumstances, the OIDI may convene a group of campus experts to assist in the assessment and response to a reported bias incident.

 

What is a Bias Incident?

At Xavier, we define a bias-motivated incident as unintentional or intentional acts targeted at a person, group, or property expressing negative bias or hostility on the basis of perceived or actual gender, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, disability or age; bias incidents may consist of name calling, epithets, slurs, degrading language, graffiti, intimidation, coercion, or harassment directed toward the targeted person or group. Bias acts often contribute to creating an unsafe or unwelcoming environment for victims and social identity groups. Acts qualify as bias acts even when delivered with humorous intent or presented as a joke or a prank. 

Examples of Bias Incidents

1. Students are subject to a professor making a racist, heterosexist or sexist remark in the course of a class discussion that is not in the context of an intellectual conversation or related to course content.
2. A student overhears a peer telling an anti-Semitic joke in the cafeteria.
3. A group of students exchange emails or texts containing explicit and degrading references or photos of women.
4. A swastika is drawn on a white board in a residence hall.
5. Two perceived men are holding hands are yelled at by a passing student who calls them a homophobic slur.
6. Images that are displayed from a classroom or residential hall that intentionally or unintentionally displays language that promotes hostility, hate or harm to members of a specific identity group.
7. An off-campus house rented by non-Mexican or non-Native American students organize a themed-party that encourages party-goers to wear Mexican and Native American cultural attire that isn't educational in nature and that which promotes stereotypes of those social groups.

Hate Crimes

Hate by itself is not a crime. A hate crime is a traditional criminal offense like murder, arson, invasion of privacy or vandalism with an added element of bias towards a federally protected class of people. For the purposes of collecting statistics, Congress and the Clery Act collectively define hate crime as a "criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender's bias against a race, ethnicity, gender, religion, economic status, national origin, disability, age or sexual orientation." Hate crimes will be referred to campus or external police. [Adapted from Davidson University]