Does Implicit Bias Influence your Behavior Intervention Team?  A Conversation about Microaggressions and the Effects of Implicit Biases on Marginalized Groups in Academia

This session will cover implicit bias and the impact it may have on Behavior Intervention Teams in regard to referrals and sanctions.  Implicit bias is unconscious and is a way for us to categorize people, places and things. It happens quickly, similar to our ability to assess a situation and determine if we are in danger. Studies continue to document the disparity in expulsion and suspensions rates in the K-12 system between whites and those viewed as "the other." It would be reasonable to assume these same tendencies may be at play in the higher education environment. Is this a cultural issue or is it implicit bias on the part of some educators and administrators? 

This keynote will also define and discuss how microaggressions affect those in marginalized communities. Microaggression refers to the casual degradation of any marginalized group, such as suggesting that someone is a criminal based solely on their physical appearance. This can impact our assessments on the BIT, the application of the NaBITA Threat Assessment Tool, and what data we look for or avoid searching for in a case. How do we ensure that we are practicing cultural relativism, which is the ability to value or respect another's culture, although its ideologies' or practices may not align with our own? This session will be useful for all three phases of the BIT: data gathering, applying a rubric, and providing interventions that take into account marginalized status.