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Bias Impact Response Team

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We are committed to fostering an inclusive community in which every Saint is valued and respected. Our core themes and values are rooted in our Catholic, Benedictine heritage. Every student, faculty, and staff brings a sacredness and uniqueness that makes us who we are. We are our community.

What is BIRT?

The Saint Martin’s University Bias Impact Response Team (BIRT) is a group of selected University community members appointed by the President to monitor and address incidents of bias to help Saint Martin’s live out its meaning and practice of community.

BIRT...

  • Fosters a healthy campus climate, exposing bias and working to dismantle it.
  • Encourages dialogue around challenging and difficult issues related to diversity, equity and inclusion.
  • Promotes a campus community in which all members of our community feel safe, at home and welcome.
  • Restores the relationship between individuals and the community, where personal narratives are heard and validated and the institution acknowledges these narratives and takes action.

Help us transform our community

Persons who experience incidents of bias are encouraged to report the incident through the BIRT Report form. The form will be reviewed, and a member of the team will follow-up with the complainant(s) to discuss the process, keep them informed of action taken, and direct them to appropriate campus resources. All reported incidents of bias will be taken seriously and handled with care and compassion for all involved.

Submit a BIRT Report

See something, say something

Submit a BIRT report

Understanding bias

Understanding the meaning of bias and what constitutes an incident of bias is an important step in the BIRT process. Bias refers to the prejudices we hold towards another person or group, usually rooted in the stereotypes and assumptions we learn from our participation in the broader culture.    

An incidence of bias refers to any verbal, non-verbal, explicit, or implicit action or behavior towards targeted persons because of their social memberships, but does not rise to the level of a crime. 

Social memberships include ethnicity, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, ability, religion, Indigenous background, veteran status, age, refugee or undocumented status, or socio-economic class.

Incidents of bias can range from the everyday slights and slurs that presume the inferiority or insignificance of another person to overt forms of discrimination that blatantly seek to offend or ridicule a person’s belonging to specific social membership.