Community bias response team (CBRT)

The Community Bias Response Team (CBRT) is an interdisciplinary, interdepartmental group of faculty, staff, and students who work to address the individual, group and institutional impacts of comments, behaviors, actions, or practices that are perceived as biased. CBRT coordinates a system through which members of the Middlebury community can report incidents of bias and offers a range of processes that can be used to address the harm caused by bias. CBRT supports impacted individuals and groups, provides education, and facilitates dialogue with the aim of repairing harm and preventing future incidents. It is not the purpose of CBRT to investigate, arbitrate, or to take the place of other Middlebury administrative processes; rather, the intention is to connect those who have witnessed or experienced an act of bias with appropriate support and resources. CBRT does not initiate disciplinary action or impose sanctions regarding bias incidents.

Middlebury defines a bias incident as a single act or multiple acts directed toward an individual or group on the basis of actual or perceived race, creed, color, place of birth, ancestry, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, marital status, service in the armed forces of the United States, positive-HIV-related blood test results, disability, culture, socio-economic status, spirituality or any combination of these or other related factors, with the purpose or effect, from the point of view of a reasonable person, of negatively impacting another. Bias incidents include, but are not limited to: slurs, degrading language, epithets, graffiti, vandalism, intimidation, symbols, and harassment; that are directed toward or affect the targeted individual or team. Incidents of bias may contribute to a hostile campus environment and can occur even if the act itself is unintentional or delivered as a joke, prank, or having humorous intent.