2021 BIAS REVIEW TEAM REPORT
Portland State University
CONTENTS
What Is The Difference Between a Hate Crime And A Bias Incident?
What Is The Difference Between a Complaint Of Discrimination And Reporting a Bias?
How Do I Report A Bias Incident?
What Happens After A Person Reports A Bias Incident?
Active Bystander Workshops for Students, Faculty, and Staff
Appendix D: Discrimination Reports
INTRODUCTION
At Portland State University, we promote access, inclusion, and equity as pillars of excellence. We believe everyone should be treated with integrity and with respect. To help us live our values and fulfill our commitment to equity and inclusion, Portland State University established the Bias Review Team (BRT) at the direction of the Vice President of Global Diversity and Inclusion in 2016.
An important element of this group is its broad representation from key campus constituencies (see below). Together, the BRT meets regularly to review reported bias incidents and ensures that students, staff, faculty, and community members who experience or witness an act of bias receive support and access to resources. To reduce the number of bias incidents on campus, the BRT has three major goals:
- Enhance communication to promote awareness of bias and the BRT reporting process;
- Work with campus partners to develop education and outreach programs based on data collected from bias reports, and;
- Improve the campus climate by identifying trends and confronting bias incidents.
The BRT launched an online reporting tool in 2017. This report covers the period from academic years (AY) 2018-2019, 2019-2020, 2020-2021.
What Is Bias?
Bias represents the beliefs or assumptions about a group or individual’s identity that negatively impacts one’s behavior and perceptions of others. It can be directed toward an attitude, an individual, or group regarding their protected class, including (but not limited to) age, disability, national origin, race, color, marital status, veteran status, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and genetic information. Bias against others can occur intentionally or unintentionally.
How Is Bias Expressed?
Bias against others can be expressed and perceived in many ways. It can be subtle or blatant; it can include physical, spoken or written acts of abuse, insensitivity, lack of awareness, violence, harassment, intimidation, extortion, the use of vulgarity, cursing, making remarks or any other behaviors that belittle, restrict, or alienate others based on preconceived notions. It can take the form of bullying, graffiti, slurs, offensive flyers, or comments in the classroom, workplace or street, bullying, and more.
What Is The Difference Between A Hate Crime And A Bias Incident?
Congress has defined a 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, religion, disability, ethnic origin or sexual orientation.” A bias incident is also an offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by the offender’s bias against a protected class, but it may not rise to the level of a crime. Law enforcement investigates hate crimes. The Equity and Compliance team forwards any BRT report to the Campus Public Safety Office that may involve a hate crime.
What Is The Difference Between A Complaint Of Discrimination And Reporting A Bias?
A PSU employee, student or volunteer may file a complaint of discrimination, discriminatory harassment or retaliation when they believe a PSU employee or student has engaged in prohibited conduct based on a protected class or sexually harassed them. Either the Office of Equity and Compliance (complaints against employees) or the Dean of Student Life office (complaints against students) may investigate and take corrective action for engaging in discriminatory conduct. When an individual reports a bias incident an investigation is not conducted and corrective action does not occur for the conduct. If a bias report is not made anonymously and the information is about a particular PSU employee or student, the person will be informed of the option to file a complaint. Please see in the appendix data on discrimination complaints reported to the Office of Equity and Compliance for the last two academic year.
How Do I Report A Bias Incident?
To file an individual bias incident report, visit the Bias Review Team page within the Global Diversity & Inclusion website. There you will find a form to submit the bias incident you experienced. The report may be made anonymously. This information is then reviewed by the members of the BRT which then recommends and oversees any required and appropriate follow-up.
What Happens After A Person Reports A Bias Incident?
When an individual completes a BRT incident report, the person has the option of identifying themselves and asking to be contacted. The BRT report goes to the Office of Equity and Compliance (OEC) and the OEC team will first determine if the person impacted by the bias should be referred to the CARE Team or any other campus partner for support and safety planning. Additionally, the OEC team may reach out to the person to obtain additional information to evaluate appropriate follow-up.
Additionally, the OEC staff evaluates the matter to determine what appropriate actions should occur. The following are examples of immediate responses:
- If the matter may be a hate crime, it may be referred to the Campus Public Safety Office (CPSO). CPSO can also evaluate whether a person who is not a student or employee should be excluded from PSU’s campus.
- If the reported bias involves a student’s conduct, the matter is referred to the Dean of Student Life (DOSL) office, Student Conduct and Community Standards, to determine if there is a violation of the Student Code of Conduct. DOSL may open an investigation into the matter or may meet with the student to provide coaching to stop the conduct. Sanctions cannot be put into place against a student without an investigation and hearing. However, DOSL can put No Contact Orders in place between students without any investigation.
- If the reported bias involves an employee’s conduct, the OEC team will first determine if the matter should be handled as a discrimination complaint. If so, an intake for a discrimination complaint will occur and a determination of whether to conduct a formal investigation is made based on PSU’s Prohibited Discrimination and Harassment Policy. Corrective action can only take place if there is a formal investigation. However, if a discrimination complaint will not be investigated, the OEC team will contact the supervisor of the reported employee or the Chair and/or Associate Dean of Academic departments and ask for them to provide coaching to stop the reported conduct.
- If the reported bias involves a non-PSU student or employee, the OEC team will determine if there is an external entity that can be contacted to address the bias incident. This could include a business on or around PSU’s campus, TriMet/Metro, or the City of Portland.
- University Communications and Global Diversity and Inclusion will continue to provide communications to the campus when bias incidents impact our university. In 2020, the BRT provided a memorandum to PSU’s Executive Council and University Communications to request that the BRT is consulted on communications and response when there will be communication or action resulting from a bias incident.
Bias Review Team
The PSU BRT consists of university leaders across campus who meet regularly to discuss reported trends and determine ways to appropriately respond as a university through promoting awareness and developing educational outreach programs when applicable. The members of the BRT are representatives from different departments across campus. Members of the BRT may change yearly based on availability and other commitments. The members for the 2020-21 Academic Year were as follows:
Julie Caron
Associate Vice President,
Global Diversity & Inclusion;
Title IX & ADA Coordinator- Chair
ASPSU Representative
Jared Bordere
Equity & Compliance
Consultant & BRT Coordinator, GDI
Amy Collins
Relationship Sexual Violence Prevention Coordinator,
Student Health & Counseling
Carlos Crespo
Vice Provost, Director of Community Health
Christie Culp
Clery & Records Coordinator, Campus Public Safety Office
Janelle DeCarrico Voegele Director, Teaching, Learning and Assessment, Office of Academic Innovation
Ramon Diaz
Director of Employee
and Labor Relations, HR
Cynthia Gomez
Director of Community & Civic Impact, University Relations
Willie Halliburton
Chief of Police,
Campus Public Safety Office
Marcy Hunt
Director of Counseling Services
K Keith
Director of Queer Resource Center
Courtney Shiroma
Executive Director of University Housing and Residence Life
Jill Townley
Associate Director of International Student Life
Michele Toppe
Vice Provost for Student Affairs
Michael Walsh
Associate Vice Provost and Dean of Student Life
Christina Williams
Director of Media & Public Relations, University Communications
REPORTING
This inaugural BRT annual report seeks to make use of BRT data to provide better context and to establish a baseline for assessing trends and issues moving forward. During the 2019-2020 academic year, the BRT went through some organizational changes to better collect data and address concerns with a goal of better informing the university about the BRT and the importance of reporting bias incidents. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, plans for a campaign to inform the campus community of BRT and reporting were not fully implemented. In the Spring of 2020, the campus pivoted to a remote learning and working environment. Approximately 600 out of 2,200 students remained in PSU’s University Housing and Residence Life. By the fall of 2020, a limited number of classes were in-person on PSU’s campus and approximately 800 students were in UHRL. There were a limited number of employees working on campus. PSU remained primarily remote until the fall term 2021. This year, the BRT will implement a campaign to inform the campus community of the BRT and how to report incidents.
Reported Bias Incidents
The BRT collects information on any and all bias incidents that are reported and are motivated by a person’s actual or perceived identity which includes age, disability, national origin, race, color, marital status, veteran status, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and genetic information.
This first annual report reflects trends and data from AY 2018-2019, AY 2019-2020, and AY 2020-2021.
Please note that the data collected and reported for the BRT differs from the data collected and reported for the Clery report. The Clery report only provides data on incidents that meet the definition of federal hate crimes within the PSU geographic area, whereas the BRT reports on any bias incidents as defined above.
Trends
Figure 1 shows that between the 2018-2019 (n = 27) and 2019-2020 (n = 41) academic years, there was a 52% increase in the number of bias incidents reported to the PSU BRT. Incidents reported increased from 27 to 41 between the academic years 2018-2019. Both the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 academic years reported the same number of incidents (n = 41). We also know that the number of reported incidents does not reflect the true number of bias incidents that occur on campus. Additionally, we know from the data that there was a significant increase in cases where the Asian Pacific Islander community was targeted. For individual AY breakdowns, see appendices.
Figure 1: Total Incidents per AY
Figure 2: Reporting Party
For each academic year students reported incidents most frequently. PSU staff reported incidents for themselves and on behalf of students. Similarly, faculty reported incidents for themselves and on behalf of others. CPSO reported incidents (n = 5) during the 2019-2020 AY. Other reporting parities either gave limited identifying information or were members of the community at large.
Figure 3: Accused Party Comparison
It is worth noting that Other/Unknown (n = 54) includes people not affiliated with PSU, or that there was not enough information provided to accurately identify who the offending party was. Of the accused parties, Faculty (n = 21) was cited the most often followed by Staff (n = 17) and Students (n = 16).
Figure 4: Frequency of Location of Incidents
This uptick in incidents reported taking place online during the 2020-2021 AY was likely due to PSU being almost exclusively remote as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Incidents taking place ‘Off Campus’ include locations directly adjacent or close to PSU (i.e. nearby businesses and TriMet bus and MAX stations).
Figure 5: Frequency of Types of Incidents
National Origin (n = 3) was the most frequent type of incident, aside from Other/Unknown, reported during the 2018-2019 AY. The most frequently reported incidents during the 2019-2020 AY were Race (n = 20), followed by National Origin (n = 11), and Religion (n = 5) and Sexual Harassment (n = 4). Similarly with the 2020-2021 AY, Race (n = 22) and Disability (n = 6) were the most frequently reported type of incident. The total number of types of incidents reported exceeds the total reported incidents due to multiple types of bias being reported per one incident. These additional types are denoted by an asterix. Other/Unknown includes those types of incidents where there was not enough information to determine the type of bias reported.
Incidents in Housing
Figure 6: Incidents in Housing Comparison
The BRT began tracking incidents that took place in University Housing and Residence Life (UHRL) during the 2019-2020 AY. Future reports will continue to track this information. UHRL has a separate protocol to immediately address bias incidents in the residence halls, that includes immediate communication with the Campus Public Safety Office to file a report. If graffiti is involved, it is removed promptly. In addition, support is provided to anyone impacted by the incident and UHRL offers additional educational opportunities through its Residence Life team as needed.
MOVING FORWARD
Based on the findings in this report, the BRT believes that the reporting of the bias incidents is low and the campus community is not aware of the BRT and its review and response to bias incidents. The BRT will work to continue to make the PSU community aware of the BRT and reporting options to obtain the most accurate data possible. The BRT will implement its awareness campaign through the following methods:
- When a campus, regional or national incident occurs, inform the campus community of the support services and how to report bias incidents.
- Provide information about the BRT and how to report incidents through:
- PSU social media
- Currently and Virtual Viking
- Posters across campus
- Target communication to supervisors, faculty senate, ASPSU, and union leadership.
Recommended Programming
The BRT has recommended that additional programming be provided to the campus community with the goal of creating an inclusive and respectful campus. Hate is not tolerated at PSU.
- Teach-in or a town hall forum (perhaps with ASPSU) for BRT to start the conversation and make bias incident reporting applicable to students
- Integrating bias incident trainings and workshops pertaining to anti-discrimination and other workshops
- Include bias incidents in active bystander workshops for colleagues to feel empowered and safe to intervene in a bias incident.
Active Bystander Workshops for Students, Faculty, and Staff
In response to the increasing bias incidents on and around campus, Illuminate will be offering weekly active bystander intervention workshops, It’s Our Place, during the 2021-2022 academic year. One workshop a month will be available for faculty and staff. You can sign up for an active bystander intervention workshop through the workshop’s website. Additionally, the PSU community can register for an online active bystander workshop with Hollaback.
APPENDIX
Appendix A: 2018-2019 AY
Appendix B: 2019-2020 AY
Appendix C: 2020-2021 AY
Appendix D: Discrimination Reports
Types of Discrimination Reported to OEC:
253 total types of complaints reported during the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 AYs.
Race (n = 19), Gender (n = 16), Retaliation/Opposition (n = 14) were the most commonly reported types of complaints during the 2019-2020 AY.
Disability/Accommodation (n = 20), Retaliation/Opposition (n = 20), Gender (n = 18), and Race (n = 18) were the most commonly reported types of complaints during the 2020-2021 AY.
Formal Investigations Conducted by OEC:
There are 5 open investigations. 20 (n = 23.81%) complaints during the 2019-2020 AY went through a formal investigation. 15 (n = 19.48%) complaints during the 2020-2021 AY went through a formal investigation.
Types of Discrimination Reports Formally Investigated by OEC:
Complainant Demographics:
