North Carolina State University in Raleigh has established a new Bias Incident Response Team on campus. The new organization encourages members of the community to report incidents of bias and offers support to victims of such incidents. The team does not conduct bias incident investigations, which will still be handed by law enforcement and other university authorities.
According to a university statement, “as a large university, North Carolina State brings together thousands of people of varying viewpoints. With many perspectives converging, a community inevitably experiences incidents of bias, whether intentional or not. When these incidents do not violate policy or law but still cause distress or harm to community members, restorative practices can help repair the harm that has been done and enable affected parties to resume full productivity at the university. Without a mechanism in place to repair harm, bias incidents can disrupt community members’ well-being and productivity and could ultimately detract from North Carolina State’s success as an institution.”
The new bias response unit is under the direction of Reggie Barnes, senior director of campus community centers of the Office for Institutional Equity and Diversity. Before joining the staff at North Carolina State University in 2016, Barnes served for six years as director of the department of diversity and community involvement at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti. Barnes is a graduate of North Carolina State University and holds a master’s degree in higher education from St. John’s University.
