Bias Incidents

A bias incident is an act of bigotry, harassment, or intimidation that is motivated in whole or in part by bias based on an individual’s or group’s actual or perceived race, color, creed, religion, national origin, gender, age, marital status, disability, public assistance status, veteran status or military affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. Bias often stems from fear, misunderstanding, hatred, ignorance, or stereotypes, and may be intentional or unintentional.

While both bias incidents and hate crimes consist of conduct that is motivated by bias, hate crimes involve a criminal act, such as assault or vandalism. Bias incidents do not necessarily involve criminal activity and may come in the form of microaggressions or other noncriminal acts.

After submitting your report, the University will assign the report to the appropriate office to investigate and respond. For example, reports involving students may be handled by the Office of Student Conduct, or if involving faculty, to the Academic Senate. Additional offices that may outreach or respond to incidents are the Office of Title IX, Office of Equal Opportunity, Human Resources, or others. We try to limit the number of offices involved to include only the ones necessary and appropriate for the report. 

If you have been impacted by a bias incident or hate crime, you will be presented with a variety of options over which you will have decision-making authority. You will have input throughout the process, and the University will support you in organizing whatever response you choose. You will be treated with respect and sensitivity, and your report will be considered private.  

Please keep in mind that some University employees are required to make certain disclosures by law.

For example, many university employees are required to:

• File a report with the Clery Coordinator if they receive a report of a covered crime alleged to have occurred on covered property (including on-campus or in adjacent public areas).
• File a report with the Title IX Officer if they learn of an alleged violation of the University's Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment (SVSH) Policy. 
• File a report about alleged child abuse or neglect under CANRA. 

Other disclosures might also be required. If you have any questions or concerns about required disclosures, ask the staff member you are speaking with about their disclosure requirements before sharing any details of the incident.

Reporting hate crimes and bias incidents, even those you might not consider “serious”, is important in order to monitor our campus climate and prevent future incidents. By reporting detailed information on incidents, you can strengthen the case for possible action through our campus judicial system and help us identify trends that can be addressed by administration before more serious incidents occur. 

Student Affairs has a commitment to dismantling systems of inequity and oppression, and doesn’t support punitive forms of justice that has historically been prejudicial and discriminatory. Over recent years, Student Affairs and institutional systems nationally have been moving toward practices of restorative and community-focused justice. Decisions about the University’s response will be made by University administration and work to honor the requests of the impacted parties as much as possible. However, there may be times when the University’s response is limited due to laws and policies surrounding freedom of expression, or when a requested response is deemed not to serve the best interests of the student body. 

There are also a number of incidents that are incidents of bias, but aren’t considered law or policy violations. These incidents are approached from an educational and restorative perspective, and we will often engage in educational discussions with the parties who committed the act of bias. When appropriate and requested, we will involve the impacted party or community to help repair and restore a sense of community. 

UCSB is committed to fostering robust and respectful dialogue within our campus community. As with all public institutions, we are legally required to uphold the First Amendment. Click here for more information on Freedom of Expression. While the First Amendment protects the free expression of ideas that are sometimes offensive, that does not mean the university is powerless to respond.

Instead of trying to censor or punish free speech, the University tracks bias incidents in order to:

• Assist impacted parties in receiving the appropriate services (if requested);
• Develop programming and training opportunities to address intolerance;
• Detect emerging patterns of hateful or biased activity;
• Make recommendations to campus leadership for the prevention of and response to future bias incidents or hate crimes.

Of course, not all speech is protected and people who commit acts of hate or bias may be subject to disciplinary proceedings or prosecution. Possible examples include physical assault, vandalism, trespassing, harassment, incitement, or genuine threats of violence.

Generally, we attempt outreach to the impacted and reporting parties within 1-2 business days of the incident being reported. This timeframe can vary slightly depending upon the information received in the report, and the office responsible for investigating the incident. Our first priority when we receive a report of an incident is to outreach to the impacted parties to connect them with resources, and we attempt to do this as quickly as possible. 

During the process of investigation and response, impacted parties will be informed of progress to the extent possible. Due to FERPA restrictions, we are prohibited from providing updates to those not directly involved in the incidents.

Yes. While UCSB’s ability to respond may be limited in these instances, we encourage you to submit a report if you believe there has been an incident of bias or misconduct by a member of the UCSB community, regardless of location.

This form is intended to be used by UCSB undergraduate and graduate students, or to report incidents involving UCSB undergraduate or graduate students. Incidents that do not involve students should be reported here [LINK].

Yes. This ensures that an incident has indeed been reported to the University and is under investigation. You may also have information not originally provided that may assist in an investigation.

Incidents that involve a staff or faculty member will likely involve investigation by Title IX, Equal Opportunity, Human Resources, or the Academic Senate. Incidents involving faculty will be assessed based upon the Faculty Code of Conduct.

Reports on the number and types of incidents reported can be viewed here [LINK].

Submitting a bias incident report should not be considered "confidential" as the information is subject to Title IX and Clery Act reporting requirements. The information submitted in a report may be shared with multiple administrative offices so that we can offer resources, investigate, and respond to the incident. However, we respect reporting party's wishes for privacy as much as possible, and reports can be submitted anonymously if desired.

Yes, there is no time limit to submit a report. The process of responding to and investigating incidents remains the same regardless of the length of time since the incident. 

We encourage you to email studentlife@sa.ucsb.edu to have an informal conversation with a member of the Dean of Students Office about the reporting process to determine your best options. Please remember that any UC employee who is not identified as a confidential resource is a ‘Responsible Employee’ required to report sexual violence, sexual harassment or other conduct prohibited by the policy to the Title IX officer or designee.

Please see the above question regarding Student Affairs philosophy for responding to incidents for additional context. We prioritize the physical safety of our students throughout the entire reporting process. If this is of concern to you, we encourage you to provide that information within the report so that we can discuss options with you at the time that we make outreach. 

If you are concerned about communicating the details of the incident in English, please indicate this in the report as well as information on what language would be most accessible to you. Rest assured that you do not need to feel hesitant if you are struggling to communicate your concerns in English. If needed, the staff member making outreach will try to identify an interpreter to help ensure that your concern can be fully addressed.