The guidelines as to what “bias” relies heavily on student emotion — when a student feels at all offended by someone’s differing political or religious ideologies, a file is reported and is required to be officially investigated by university officials.
Wake Forest University kicked off the fall 2014 semester by instituting a campus-wide online system that has the potential to restrict free speech by allowing students and staff to anonymously file reports on any occurrences they deem biased or hateful.
Known as the Bias Incident Report system, the online form does not specify the criteria for filing a report, nor does it explicitly define the word “bias.” Instead, students are pressured to submit a report anytime they believe they are encountering an incident of hate or bias — potentially opening the floodgates for students to report incidents without cause.
The report form lists a bevy of reasons an incident could be perceived as biased, some of which include: citizenship, gender identity, national origin, pregnancy, religion, sexual orientation and economic background. The form even offers an option to upload a video, photos or audio of the occurrence.
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