There are times where students may report situations in which they were called an inappropriate name or been the recipient of a bias-related message. These situations are concerning to our students and may impact the University community - you might not know what to do with the information.
Bias Response Team
The Bias Response Team is a resource for members of the University community who have a concern about perceived bias-related situations, concerns, and/or complaints, and to coordinate an appropriate response. The Bias Response Team will provide an organized and coordinated method of assessment of the severity of an incident or situation affecting the University community. The Bias Response Team determines the need to refer the incident to the appropriate University official or committee. Any interventions are voluntary and may include a variety of activities including discussions, mediation, training, counseling, and consensus building.
Composition
The team is coordinated by the Dean of Students and currently includes representatives from the Division for Diversity and Inclusion; Department of Residence Life, Housing and Dining Services; two student representatives; and two faculty representatives. Please see the website for membership.
Referral Behavior
Examples of incidents and situations that are addressed by the Team include damage/destruction of property, threat, email/online harassment, vandalism, graffiti, intimidation, physical harassment, and verbal/written/phone harassment.
Referrals
Any member of the University community can report a situation through the online reporting system on the Dean of Students website utilizing the following incident report form. Reporters can choose to select a “nature of bias” to help illustrate their situations.
Dean of Students Office
Plaster Student Union 405
DeanofStudentsOffice@missouristate.edu
417-836-5527