Virginia Tech’s "Bias Response Team" and the First Amendment

Whose Interests Do Bias Response Teams Serve?

Virginia Tech’s Bias Response Team and the First Amendment (free link)

The advertising catchphrase “see something, say something” calls to mind suspicious packages that might be bombs. At Virginia Tech, that slogan applies to the school’s official Bias Intervention and Response Team, or BIRT. Hokies are encouraged to report one another’s ill-considered opinions or crass jokes. On May 31, 2023 the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals declined to end this, but a dissent by veteran Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III is a persuasive signal flare for the Supreme Court to take the case and defend free speech. A Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals dissent is a signal flare for the Supreme Court to take this case. (Wall Street Journal June 12, 2023.)

What are Bias Response Teams?

“One way that institutions have responded to hostile campus environments for minoritized students is by creating bias response teams (BRTs). This case study examines ways 16 campus educators (i.e., student affairs professionals, faculty, and administrators) at a large predominantly White public university in the Midwest deployed and reinforced dominant conceptions of cultural and social capital when responding to incidents. Findings indicate that BRT work often stalls out at supporting victims of bias and does not often engender the larger organizational change desired by campus educators. Implications for campus educators responding to incidents of bias are discussed.”¹

Pen America: Cautions and tips for bias response systems

Cautions and tips for bias response systems | PEN America

Recent articles on Bias Response Teams

Ferguson, Christopher. Bias Response Teams Are a Bad Idea. Chronicle of Higher Education. June 5, 2023.

Garces, Liliana M., Evelyn Ambriz, and Jackie Pedota. “Legal Challenges to Bias Response Teams on College Campuses.” Educational researcher 51.6 (2022): 431–435.

Miller, Ryan A et al. “A Balancing Act: Whose Interests Do Bias Response Teams Serve?” Review of higher education 42.1 (2018): 313–337.

Ryan A. Miller, Tonia Guida, Stella Smith, S. Kiersten Ferguson & Elizabeth Medina (2018) Free Speech Tensions: Responding to Bias on College and University Campuses, Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, 55:1, 27-39,

1. LePeau, Lucy A et al. “Campus Educators Deploying Cultural and Social Capital: Critically Examining a Bias Response Team.” Journal of college student development 59.6 (2018): 681–697.