Bias Response Teams

Time can never mend
The careless whispers
Of a good friend
--Wham

Prof Williams shares results of a recent report from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) on 'bias response teams' operating on college campuses. Bias response teams are groups of students, faculty, and staff invited by school administrators to report on conduct or speech taking place on campus that might be considered offensive.

FIRE reports that over 200 bias response teams were operating on US college campuses in 2016. Nearly 3 million students enrolled at these schools are thus being subject to speech surveillance.

In a separate study, FIRE's annual speech code survey found that 92% of the 449 schools surveyed maintain policies that restrict or punish speech.

It's not just students who are being watched. These Orwellian systems ask students to report not only on their colleagues and neighbors, but also on professors for speech that can be construed as biased and oppressive.

Why burn books when you can simply burn the authors of ideas?