A new policy at Syracuse University includes in its long list of examples of “bias incidents” color-coded signs for male and female students.
The new policy, which is called “STOP Bias,” encourages students to report instances of discrimination. As an example of a gender bias incident, students are encouraged to file a report if a campus sign is “color-coded pink for girls and blue for boys.”
We believe that every student should be given a college experience that is free of crime, discrimination, sexual harassment, and any other violation. We strive to foster learning and growth in an environment that is safe and secure, and we lead the way with STOP Bias at Syracuse.
Other possible offenses include “using the phrase, ‘no homo,'” “telling jokes based on a stereotype,” and “making a joke about someone being deaf or hard of hearing, or blind, etc.”
Bias-related incidents, while abhorrent and intolerable, do not meet the necessary elements required to prove a crime. However, bias-related incidents do require the active participation of a community committed to fundamental human dignity and equality to successfully address them. Please report bias-related incidents to http://reportbias.syr.edu.
Interestingly, the bias incident reporting policy claims that students who feel discriminated against for their “political or social affiliation” are welcome to file a complaint. A recent study from Stanford University concluded that Americans are now more like to discriminate on the basis of political party affiliation than they are on the basis of race, gender, or sexuality.
Americans now discriminate more on the basis of party than on race, gender or any of the other divides we typically think of — and that discrimination extends beyond politics into personal relationships and non-political behaviors. Americans increasingly live in neighborhoods with like-minded partisans, marry fellow partisans and disapprove of their children marrying mates from the other party, and they are more likely to choose partners based on partisanship than physical or personality attributes.
Tom Ciccotta is a libertarian who writes about social justice and libertarian issues for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter @tciccotta or email him at tciccotta@breitbart.com