Nineteen Eighty-Four Updated: The Bias Response Team Is Watching You
Bias Reporting Systems
Well, Big Brother was fictional character from George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four.
So Big Brother’s not really watching anybody but, as Jillian Kay Melchior reveals in today’s Wall Street Journal, the Bias Response Team really is watching college students. And it is pretty eerie:
‘The most important indication of bias is your own feelings,” the University of Michigan advises students. It then urges them to report on their peers, anonymously if they prefer, “and to encourage others to report if they have been the target or witness of a bias incident.”
The Bias Response Team is there, ready to investigate and mete out justice. More than 200 American campuses have established similar administrative offices to handle alleged acts of “bias” that violate no law. A federal lawsuit filed Tuesday against the University of Michigan is the first in the nation to challenge the constitutionality of these Bias Response Teams.
The suit was filed by Speech First, a new nonprofit that believes that “free and open discourse is an essential component of a comprehensive education.” and plans to fight to protect free speech rights on campus. The suit alleges that the Bias Response Team and Michigan’s student code violate the First Amendment.
To read the whole article, click here.
