The Georgetown University Student Association sponsored a forum Wednesday night to discuss issues of bias and to raise awareness about a new hate-crime-reporting web site.
Led by a panel of students, faculty and administrators, the open discussion centered on a new web site for reporting bias-related incidents, launched this fall by the Office of Student Affairs.
Vice President for Student Affairs Todd Olson said that several reports have been filed so far but did not reveal the exact number.
He said that a recent incident involved a bias-related comment in an online instant message and that the University was able to follow up the report with appropriate action.
“We wanted to create a comfortable and centralized way to report incidents,” Olson said.
Through the web site, www.georgetown.edu/student-affairs/biasreporting, any student wishing to voice a concern can download and fill out an online form and return it to the Office of Student Affairs.
Complaints are reviewed by a board of administrators and addressed on a case-by-case basis.
According to Olson, one benefit of the new system is that it is equipped to address all bias-related incidents that arise, not just those that directly violate the Code of Conduct.
“We want to be able to give students a driver’s seat in the follow-up to issues,” he said.
The new system was developed in response to concerns raised after the Black Student Alliance received a racist e-mail last March.
“These issues have been in people’s minds for a long time,” Olson said, “but this past spring was a pretty important wake-up call.”
Erin Meadors (CAS ‘05), chair of the Student of Color Alliance, said that a better system for reporting incidents will greatly improve the University’s policy for addressing bias-related issues.
“There was such a need for this campus to catch up with the times,” she said.
The web site is backed by a broad base of student and administrative organizations.
GUSA, the Office of Residence Life, the Office of Affirmative Action, the Department of Public Safety, the Diversity Action Council and the Center for Minority Educational Affairs have all lent their support to the new system.
“Georgetown’s getting a better understanding of what’s going on,” CMEA Assistant for Student Programs Shereena Dickens (CAS ‘06) said. “Before there was a view of there not being a problem.”
Tania Kaimowitz (SFS ‘06), a resident assistant in LXR, agreed.
“When we don’t have a system, people say that there is no problem,” she said.
