Associate Dean of Students Daren Mooko sent an e-mail to the student body Oct. 1 regarding a Queer Resource Center (QRC) flyer at Claremont Graduate University that had been repeatedly removed from a bulletin board. The e-mail was sent as part of the school’s protocol for “bias-related incidents.”

Pomona’s definition for bias-related incidents is “expressions of hostility against another individual (or group) because of the other person’s (or group’s) race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, gender identity or expression and sexual orientation, or because the perpetrator perceives that the other person (or group) has one or more of these characteristics.”

According to Mooko, each incident is examined based on tangible evidence, regardless of the emotions that the incident may have evoked or the number of people who feel targeted.

For example, last year, a rock was thrown through one of the upper windows of the QRC while students were inside. The incident was thoroughly examined, but ultimately it was decided that it was not bias-related. Even Adriana di Bartolo, Coordinator of the QRC, said there was a lack of evidence to indicate that the act was a result of homophobia.

When an incident occurs that may fit the definition of a bias-related incident, it is reported to either the Office of Student Affairs, a Resident Advisor, or a sponsor, and—if appropriate—Campus Safety. Mooko and Dean of Students Miriam Feldblum then decide whether the incident could be considered bias-related. If they agree that it likely is, the Incident Response Team (IRT) then examines and discusses the evidence. Pomona College’s IRT is comprised of students and leaders of various diversity groups such as the Asian American Mentor Program, Chicano/Latino Student Affairs, the QRC, the Women’s Union, and the Pan-African Student Association, Mooko, Feldblum, and choice faculty if they are available. If the incident is labeled “bias-related,” the deans respond accordingly.

The IRT must determine likely motivation and intent for the acts.

“The one word we always drill down to is ‘hostility,’” Mooko said. Many offensive incidents occur, but only some of them are hostile to a group or person because of his or her identity.

According to Mooko, during a campaign about violence against women, silhouette cut-outs of women were placed around campus with statistics about mysoginistic violence. Someone scrawled offensive language on one cut-out, and two others were placed in sexually explicit positions. This was determined to be a bias related incident.

“The context of the campaign was ‘violence against women,’” Mooko said. “Someone decided to take the actual images and almost make them into violent images.”

This act was defined as hostility because of the victims’ gender. By contrast, the rock thrown through the QRC window was not necessarily hostile toward queer or questioning students or their allies.

“It’s the nature of the incident,” Feldblum said. “It’s not how you may feel about the incident—how you yourself experience it—though that may be very difficult ... A bias-related incident has to be against a targeted group that’s a protected group.”

Last year, the QRC painted a Rainbow Flag across Walker Wall. A few days later, the wall was painted over with Bev Scavvy—an unofficial Pomona College scavenger hunt—team names. Many of the names contained homosexual slurs or were otherwise offensive. Despite the fact that many members of the gay community took offense, it was not deemed a bias-related incident because team names were chosen before the wall was painted with a rainbow.

“Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from offense,” Mooko said. “You don’t have the right to not be offended.”

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) scores colleges with a three-color system (green, yellow, or red) by how stifling or supportive each college is of free speech. FIRE gave Pomona a yellow rating based partly on the handbook’s language regarding bias-related incidents. However, the IRT believes free speech is covered only until it becomes “hostile.” Feldblum said that based on what she had read of FIRE’s report, the foundation misread Pomona’s policy and concluded that Pomona labels an incident bias-related or not depending “on the emotional impact—that if people were upset, that’s what generated, for us, labelling it as a bias-related incident ... There’s protected free speech, and there’s bias-related incidents. That’s something you have to determine, but once you determine that, it’s not about emotional impact.”

Notification e-mails are sent to the student body to communicate that the incidents occurred and the college believes they merit attention, and also to act as a deterrent to students who might be less likely to commit biased acts if they know all 5C students and faculty will be informed.

“Here’s another context that’s also important, is that y’all live here, and that makes it a whole different ball game,” Mooko said. “How would you feel if someone wrote that on the bedroom door of your home?”