The American Council of Trustees and Alumni, a conservative group associated with Lynne Cheney and committed to academic freedom on American campuses, has made an issue of the “Bias Incident Reporting System” at William & Mary. The system encourages members of the W&M community to report “biased behavior” to a special committee, asserts ACTA in a recent press release.
Originally, the system was designed to encourage people to file complaints over “harassment, intimidation or other hostile behavior that is directed at a member of the William and Mary community because of that person’s race, sex (including pregnancy), age, color, disability, national or ethnic origin, political affiliation, religion, sexual orientation, or veteran status,” reports ACTA.
Some students, alumni and at least one law school professor objected to the “schoolyard tattletale system” designed to support a “politically skewed code of conduct.” They took the issue public, running an ad in the student newspaper in October, and launching a website.
According to ACTA, W&M has since modified the “bias incident reporting system” web page, which now states:
The Reporting System does not create a new category of prohibited behavior or a new process for members of the College community to be disciplined or sanctioned. The Bias Incident Reporting Team has no authority to discipline any student or member of the faculty or staff. When reported conduct is subject to existing College disciplinary or judicial procedures, referral services will be provided by the Chair of the Bias Incident Response Team. For example, if conduct by a faculty member is reported as a bias incident, the matter will be pursued through applicable procedures set forth in the Faculty Handbook.
“The administration can tinker with the system all it wants. The fact is, it needs to go,” said Anne D. Neal, president of ACTA. “The system is ripe for abuse, and the administration has offered no reason for why it’s needed. What’s wrong with free speech?” ACTA has written President Gene R. Nichol urging him to scrap the system. He has not answered the letter.
There are two ways to react to this controversy. While the W&M has the potential for abuse, one could argue, ACTA offers no evidence that it has been abused. Has anyone been unjustly persecuted? If not, what’s the big fuss?
But there’s another way of looking at it: Why even institute such a measure in the first place? Has W&M been plagued with incidents of bias? Does intolerance threaten the delicate harmony of the college community? If not, why set up a full-blown administrative apparatus — a reporting sytem, an incident reporting team, and referrals to college disciplinary procedures — for a problem that doesn’t exist?
This controversy strikes me as a tempest in a teapot. But it speaks volumes about the politically correct attitudes reigning in the W&M administration and the distrust that President Nichol has engendered among many of his alumni.
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