Did you know that, according to the FBI, college and university campuses are the third most likely place where hate crimes occur? Did you also know that 70% of students who become the target of bias during their first year of college consider leaving school? Creating a safe space for students to learn and for staff to work is a critical part of every school's retention and persistence efforts. There are many effective best practices that can not only prevent hate crimes, but also attract students to your campus because it provides a safe place for them to be.

Stop the Hate is a 3-day training for trainers program that empowers faculty, staff, administrators, and students with knowledge and skills to provide education and awareness about hate crimes and bias incident prevention. Our program gives participants to the tools create an action plan to positively impact the campus community. We can bring Stop the Hate to your campus or you can send participants to one of our programs offered annually on the east coast and west coast. For more information about upcoming programs or to learn how to bring Stop the Hate to your campus, go to www.stophate.org

HOW TO CREATE A BIAS INCIDENT RESPONSE TEAM FOR YOUR CAMUS

Hate and bias impacts every college and university. Effective hate crime and bias prevention efforts include away for campuses to report, monitor and respond to bias incidents when they happen. One way for colleges to take responsbility for creating a safe learning environment is by having a Bias Incident Response Team for students, faculty and staff to report bias and ultimately support victims. BIRTs have been an increasing measure for campus safety and retention efforts over the last decade. This webinar will put your campus on track to develop a BIRT by providing an understanding of the impact of a BIRT, guiding principles to developing a BIRT, and proposed BIRT models for your campus.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010 from 3PM to 4:30PM

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Today the FBI released the 2008 hate crime statistics that reflect the number of hate crimes reported in 2008. These statistics only reflect those hate crimes reported by law enforcement agencies to the FBI. Since this reporting program is completely voluntary, there is no way to know how close the numbers are to the actual number of hate crimes that occurred during 2008. Be that as it may, the number of hate crimes reported to the FBI last year increased by 2%. Race was still the most common bias motivation, followed by religion and then sexual orientation. The home was the most common location for a hate crime to occur, followed by roadways and highways. School campuses remain the third most common place for a hate crime to occur.

In contrast, California saw a slight decrease in reported hate crimes (law enforcement agencies are required to report hate crimes to the California Department of Justice who is responsible for tracking hate crime trends). However, hate crimes committed against Jews increased 37% and hate crimes committed against homosexuals increased 16%.

Last month, President Obama signed into law an expansive federal hate crime bill that added sexual orientation, gender identity, and disabilities to the list of those identity groups protected by federal hate crime law. In addition, the law defines a hate crime as any crime of violence (not just those involving Constitutionally protected activities) motivated by the victim’s actual or perceived race, color, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. But will this bill, that took more than 12 years go get signed into law, really prevent hate crimes from happening? The answer is no.