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Relevant Excerpt

Bias incidents are any act, conduct, or communication that reasonably is understood to demean, degrade, threaten, or harass an individual or group based on an actual or perceived: age; citizenship status; color; creed; disability; domestic violence victim status; ethnicity; familial responsibilities; genetic information; marital status; national origin/ancestry; personal appearance; political belief or affiliation; race; religion; residence; source of income; veteran or military status; weight; or any other protected characteristic under applicable local, state, or federal law. Bias can occur whether intentional or unintentional and may not violate college policy or state or federal law to be defined as a bias incident. In a bias incident the actor/perpetrator may be known or unknown. Whether an incident meets this definition or not The College is committed to responding to bias incidents by addressing accountability, providing support to those impacted and by creating educational moments for community engagement. Whenever appropriate the College will investigate reported incidents and hold community members accountable for actions that violate college policies or the law. ....

Hostile or hateful speech or other discriminatory behavior may be considered a bias incident, but under certain conditions may also be a hate crime.

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Mount Holyoke will act on reports of incidents of bias discrimination received through the , by a mandatory reporter, or through direct reporting to the Assistant Vice President for Compliance or their designee. When receiving reports, every effort is made to preserve the privacy of reports and to respect an individual’s desire for confidentiality; however, the College may be legally required to take action depending on the nature of the report. The reporter party will be informed if, in the course of satisfying this obligation, the College may be unable to comply with a request for confidentiality. Reports can be made anonymously with the on-line form and while anonymous reporting can help the College monitor campus climate and inform potential program planning it can be difficult for the Assistant Vice President for Compliance or their designee to follow up on a specific incident without knowing the parties involved.