Bias Incident Response

This procedure delineates the Bias Incident Response framework, stemming from the Bias Incident Policy: “Lane Community College encourages all students, staff and faculty to refrain from committing and engaging in any bias incident on College property, at College-sponsored events, or when engaged in College activities and business (in person, by phone, or online) on or off campus.”

The College, the Office of Student Affairs, and the Bias Response Team will ensure that each bias incident is investigated and addressed appropriately. A summary of all verified bias incidents will be publicly reported annually to Lane’s Board of Education annually, in July. Annual reports will be accessible on a Bias Incident Response web page, maintained by the Bias Response Team.

This and other procedures are in place to obligate the College to respond comprehensively to different kinds of incidents, attending to the health and safety of members of the College community, managing individual complaints or grievances, and adjudication of possible violations of college policies, relying on Restorative Practices whenever possible, and referring possible violations of local, state, and federal laws and regulations to the appropriate authorities.

Protocols

Students, staff members, or the public, with a bias concern, should submit a Bias Incident report form. Please contact the Bias Response Team BRT@lanecc.edu if you have any difficulty submitting the form or have questions. Please refer to the procedure map for clarity on this structure.

Report Received

Screening and Assessment

Once a Bias Incident Report is received through Maxient, Permanent members of the Bias Response Team will screen the report and route it through the appropriate system(s). If there is a potential or perceived conflict of interest for a Permanent member, they shall recuse themselves from the screening and assessment process. Referrals may be routed to more than one system initially, or may be routed back to other systems, as needed. Reports made to the below entities are kept confidential, and reporters are protected from retaliation, in accordance with State and Federal laws, and College policies, procedures, and contracts. The following are potential routing outcomes:

• Refer to Bias Response Team – the reported issue was determined to be a Bias Incident--the coordinators will activate appropriate Bias Response Team members to review the facts, investigate the incident, and make a formal recommendation
• Refer to Conduct Officer – for violations to the Student Code of Conduct
• Refer to Human Resources – for violations of Employee conduct, contracts, or agreements
• Refer to Title IX Coordinator for Sexual Harassment, Sexual Misconduct, Gender Discrimination, Pregnant or Parenting Student descrimination, or other Title IX related issues
• Refer to Mental Health and Wellness – screeners determined that the reported incident is not a Bias Incident, an act of sexual Harassment/Discrimination, or a violation of the Student Code of Conduct, or a violation of Employee Conduct; the complainant will be referred to the Counseling Department for assistance

Bias Response Team

If a Bias Incident has occurred, a Bias Response Team is assembled from a list of Bias Team members, who have participated in approved anti-bias or cultural competency training, and who have demonstrated the skills and experience to understand the nature of the complaint and to make recommendations for an appropriate educational response. Permanent members by position of the Bias response team will include the Dean of Student Standards, Associate Dean of Accessibility and Testing Support, and the Title IX Coordinator. Permanent members will be required to complete Bias Response Team training within their first year of employment. Members by position will be responsible for the administrative management of the Bias Response Team, annual Bias Incident Response Reports, the Bias Incident Response web page, Monitoring the BRT@lanecc.edu email, and initial screening and assessment of Bias Incident Reports. Non-permanent members by position could include the Multicultural Center personnel, the Longhouse personnel, Veterans Center personnel, Gender Equity Center personnel, Career Pathways Counselors, Mental Health and Wellness Counselors, Center for Accessible Resource Coordinators, and any interested member of the College community. All non-permanent members of the Bias Response team will be required to receive annual implicit bias, equity, and inclusion training. Non-permanent members will be asked to respond to each incident referred to the Bias Response Team, per the screen procedure above, and may choose to be a part of the assembled Bias Response Team on a case-by-case basis. At least one permanent member will chair any bias response team, and the responding team will include at least two other permanent or non-permanent team members that wish to participate, but will not be limited in total size. Fact finders and external content experts may also be assembled, as needed. This group will conduct an investigation to determine the appropriate educational and restorative responses, and compose a written recommendation to the appropriate manager. All recommendations must be composed and delivered to the manager within twenty working days from formation of the Bias Response Team. If this deadline cannot be met the Bias Response team needs to request a formal extension, and receive approval, from this procedure’s primary contact.

Implementation

Upon completion of the Bias Response Team’s investigation, a report and recommendations will be provided to the appropriate management and individuals. Management will give directions to appropriate staff to implement the actions outlined in the written recommendations for an educational and restorative response to the incident. Recommended actions may not include actions directed at a single individual or student, but will be focused on addressing any isolated, environmental, community, or systemic bias issues uncovered by the bias response team. If the Bias Response Team finds that a single individual is responsible for the bias Incident, they may refer the issue back through the screening process with their recommendations. If the complainant in the process believes that the procedure as outlined above was not adequately followed, the complainant, or any person who participated in the process with the consent of the complainant, can file a grievance with Lane’s General Counsel to review the process.

Internal/Disposition Reports

Permanent Members of the Bias Response Team will maintain a list of Bias Team members, incidents and outcomes. Internal reports are intended to provide formative assessment data that supports the reduction of bias incidents on campus, to help debrief the experiences, and to analyze the decision outcomes of this procedure. Anonymized data in internal reports may be included in public reports with recommendations on decreasing future bias incidents. In the event that an individual shows a pattern of engaging in Bias Incidents, those details will be forwarded to the formal Harassment and Discrimination process for review. Every effort will be made to maintain privacy and confidentiality, in accordance with State and Federal laws, and College policies, procedures, and contracts.

Public Reports

The permanent members of the Bias Response Team will provide an annual summary report of Bias Incidents to the Board of Education for each academic year at the July Board Meeting beginning in July 2021. These reports may include recommendations for reducing future bias incidents Public reports will also be maintained on the Bias Incident Response web page.