In a recent letter, President Chabotar reminded the Guilford community of the Bias Incident Group. The group is in place to respond to acts of bias and prejudice on campus committed anonymously.President Kent Chabotar recently sent out a letter reminding the college community of the Bias Incident Group. The group, which consists of administrators, staff, faculty, and students, convenes when deemed necessary to respond to acts of bias that are committed anonymously.

The reminder, which comes out annually, explained what the group does and listed its members. As outlined in the letter, for an offense to warrant a meeting of the Bias Incident Group, it must meet several criteria. It must be serious, anonymous, widely-known within the community, and threatening towards a specific group or groups of people.

In responding to an offense, the group “educates the community about the incident and bias in general and tries to find systemic solutions,” as stated in the letter to the community. The Bias Incident Group does not take judicial actions, as it only responds to offenses when the perpetrators are unknown.

The group was established in 2003, Chabotar’s second year as president.

“We had a similar group at Bowdoin College where I was before coming to Guilford,” said Chabotar. “We borrowed very heavily from their purpose and make-up.”

“Instead of just having one person respond, the group can respond with a broad opinion,” said senior Josh Vogelbach, one of two student members of the group. “The group’s not jut made up of traditional students, or faculty. There are staff, faculty, and students. It basically gives the whole campus a chance to be involved.”

Inspiration for the group came from the success of the one at Bowdoin as well as an incident that occurred in Chabotar’s first year at Guilford in which students and a black faculty member overheard a group of people in a parking lot using the “N” word. The incident became widely known in the Guilford community.

“If the group had been in existence, we probably would have convened to condemn the use of that horrible word,” Chabotar said. “I can’t think of a better example of something directed against a particular group. Because it was so useful at Bowdoin, we would have done it eventually here. That incident was another impetus to have it done.