We’re talking about college and university “Bias Response Systems.” They’re an outgrowth of leftist militancy on our campuses, created to enable ideological zealots to complain about and trigger action against anyone who says things they dislike.
In today’s Martin Center article, Jenna Robinson and Ashlynn Warta look into a new study by Speech First on this phenomenon. They write, “Speech First’s report pulls no punches, calling Bias Response Systems ‘elaborate schemes . . . designed to silence dissenters, stifle open dialogue, and encourage students to report speech they deem unacceptable.’ Like most such initiatives on campus, their efforts tend to run in a single ideological direction.”
Speech First’s survey found that Bias Response Systems (BRSs) have been increasing around the country. That comes as no surprise, since the mania for “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion” has been spreading like wildfire and one element of that is to combat what the administrators regard as “hurtful speech.”
Most of the major public and private schools in North Carolina have an anti-bias system of some kind. They encourage students to anonymously complain about speech that bothers them. Robinson and Warta write, “One of the most concerning aspects of these BRSs is that almost all the forms allow submissions to be made anonymously. Identifying information is not required when one submits a bias incident. This option of anonymity removes any checks and balances from the process; not only are students and faculty able to tattle on each other, but there is no way of investigating whether a complaint is true rather than a hoax.”
What to do? The right thing is to disband these systems. American higher education got along fine without them until they began to appear in the early years of this century. Let’s return to the good old days of free speech.