The Racist and Bias Incident Response Team was created in late 2019 and aimed to bring together perspectives and processes from across the university in order to develop a coordinated approach to responding to racist and bias incidents on campus. The committee membership capitalizes on the knowledge, reporting structures, programming and communication tools already in existence.

Any act of intolerance, motivated wholly or in part by bias or prejudice against an individual’s race, color, ethnicity, age, religion, size, disability, national origin, language, gender, veteran status, identity expression, sexual orientation or age—regardless of severity—can be reported using this form.

Transcript

Annalisa Purser: I’m Annalisa Purser. I’m the director of administration for the Office of the Chief Safety Officer, and I also co-chair the Racist and Bias Incident Response Team. This committee oversees, the creation, implementation, and long-term success of university protocols, programs, and processes in order to provide appropriate and calculated responses to incidents involving bias and racism at the university.

Jason Ramirez: My name is Jason Ramirez. I’m the associate vice president and dean of students at the University of Utah. The Racist and Bias Incident Response Team is comprised of three subcommittees. The first of which is the reporting and tracking committee. Their responsibility is to develop the centralized form that we utilize on campus. The second subcommittee is the data and assessment team. Their responsibility is to analyze the data that comes into that form, so we can notify campus of trends and take the appropriate steps to educate campus. The last subcommittee is the communication and response group. Their responsibility is to understand the communication pieces that are going out and help the community understand what’s happening on campus.

Brian Nicholls: I’m Brian Nicholls. I’m the special assistant to the Chief Safety Officer. My position is a new one that has created in part to help manage the response process when racism and bias incidents are reported. Once an incident is reported through the centralized reporting form, I help coordinate the various moving parts among other partner offices on campus. This ensures the consistent and appropriate response to the incidents as well as making sure that communication to the campus community is timely.

Annalisa Purser: We’re working to launch a new website with more information as well as a link to our new centralized reporting form. We’re committed to improving this process and to working together to create a more inclusive and welcoming campus environment.