Feelings continue to matter more than anything else on college campuses. Officials at Grand Valley State University in Michigan are now asking students to report to the school’s bias response team if they feel “belittled, disrespected, or isolated based on their identity” and it’ll be investigated.
“The university is committed to safeguarding individual’s constitutional rights to free speech and assembly and we are also committed to addressing incidents of bias that may negatively affect individuals and/or communities at the university,” it says on the school’s website.
The website goes on to say: “Grand Valley facilitates educational dialogue to ensure that individuals understand both their right to free expression within the community and the impact of their expression on individuals and/or the community.”
So, yeah, you have a right to free speech, but only if you don’t offend anyone.
The school will provide “support resources” to those who report incidents – so there may be an incentive to exaggerate or make up supposed incidents of bias.
The school also suggests that students “confront bias whenever you hear, see, or experience it” by calling out the alleged bias, interrupting the bias, supporting “an upset person,” using body language “to show disapproval,” encouraging dialogue (but still reporting people).
Anyone can easily claim to feel “belittled, disrespected, or isolated” — especially with the victimhood mentality permeating college campuses. If you claim you were treated adversely because of your “identity,” you will get special treatment.
As The College Fix has previously reported, bias reports at Grand Valley have been used to demand conformity to liberal thought. One professor was investigated for saying there are only two genders and refusing to use preferred pronouns. Another was investigated for daring to say children should be raised by a mother and a father.
A campus official told the Fix that most reports don’t result in an investigation, it’s basically a “mechanism for someone to report that they felt mistreated and, consequently, University offices work to address the needs of the affected individual.”
So, like I said before: Claim someone was mean to you and get special treatment. And even though most incidents aren’t investigated, there’s no doubt they could be used against someone if they were accused of actually violating a school policy — whether they even know they had been reported to the bias team or not.