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Bias Education and Support Services

Learn more about bias incidents and find information about how to report instances of bias and hate, how the College reviews incident reports, and the support and educational resources available to the campus community.

What is a Bias Incident?

A bias incident is an act or expression of prejudice, belittlement, hostility, hate or discrimination directed against a person or group based on their actual or perceived sex, disability, race, age, religion, color, national or ethnic origin, ancestry, marital or parental status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or physical or other personal characteristics (protected class identities). Bias incidents may consist of verbal, written, graphic, and/or physical conduct such as epithets, jokes, graffiti, negative stereotyping, and threatened or actual physical assault. A bias incident may constitute discrimination, discriminatory harassment or a hate crime depending on the facts and circumstances.

How to Report a Bias Incident

  • Please fill out the bias incident reporting form. Depending on the incident you may be notified by campus safety. If you feel you are in danger please contact campus safety directly at 407-646-2999.
  • The incident report notification process will allow the Bias Education Support Services (BESS) Team to connect with the affected party/parties and refer them to the proper resources and support.
  • If you have questions, you may contact any member of the BESS Team listed below.

Other Definitions

Discrimination Unequal, unjust or prejudicial treatment based on protected class identity or association that adversely affects an individual’s ability to fully participate in the educational opportunities or the terms and conditions of employment at Rollins College.

Discriminatory Harassment Unwelcome verbal and/or physical conduct directed at an individual based on protected class identity or association that has the purpose or effect of creating an objectively intimidating, hostile or offensive educational or work environment (hostile environment harassment). This includes hate-motivated acts or expressions targeting a person or group based on their protected class identify or association.

Unwelcome conduct constitutes discriminatory harassment when:

• it is targeted against a person or group on the basis of their protected class identify or association; AND
• it is sufficiently severe or pervasive that it creates an environment that a reasonable person would find intimidating, hostile or offensive; OR
• submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual's education or employment; OR
• submission to, or rejection of, such conduct by an individual is used as a basis for academic or employment decisions affecting that individual.

Hate Crime A criminal offense (against person or property) motivated in whole or in part by the offender's bias towards a particular individual or group because of their protected class identity.

Bias Incident Review Process

The Bias Education and Support Team follows a four-step process to review incident reports.

Step 1: Bias Incident Report Submitted

• Reports can be submitted by students, faculty, staff, or any third-party.
• Note: Bias Education & Support Services (BESS) is not a confidential resource. We will do our best to ensure privacy to those involved.

Step 2: Bias Education & Support Services (BESS) Reviews Submission

• What is the nature of the bias incident?
• What is the impact to the individuals and the community?
• Does it violate College policies or local, state, or federal laws?
• What campus notifications are needed or required?

Step 3: Report Submitted With Contact Information

• Offer intake meeting and support
• Review report and create appropriate action plan
• Follow up with appropriate individuals and departments
• Or, if the report was submitted anonymously, BESS will assess if there are actionable items to allow for follow up.

Step 4: Collect, Analyze, and Share Data

• BESS will analyze data for trends and neccessary education.
• Summary/aggregate information will be posted on the College website, and distributed via campus email as necessary.

Bias Education and Support Services Team (BESS)

A group of faculty and staff who are committed to creating a proactive response to instances of hate and bias. If you have questions about the Bias Education and Support process, please contact: