Favoring of or against one person, group or thing compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair. Biases can be conscious or unconscious – explicit or implicit. In addition, bias can be institutionalized into policies, practices and structures.

Any hurtful, discriminatory or harassing act that targets individuals or groups based on perceived or actual identity. To be considered a bias incident, the act is not required to be a crime under any federal, state or local statutes, nor does it have to violate university policy.

A set of beliefs or aims which guide someone's actions.

Discrimination means unequal treatment of someone because of their Protected Class category. Discrimination is a violation of this policy when it results in an adverse action or negatively impacts the terms and conditions of an individual’s employment, education, or denies or limits participation in programs, services, or activities.

The culture of people in a given geographic region, including their language, heritage, religion and customs.

A social combination of identity, expression, and social elements related to masculinity and femininity. Includes gender identity (self-identification), gender expression (self-expression), social gender (social expectations), gender roles (socialized actions), and gender attribution (social perception).

How one chooses to express one’s gender identity to others through behavior, clothing, hairstyle, voice, body characteristics, etc. Gender expression may change over time and from day to day, and may or may not conform to an individual’s gender identity.

An individual’s internal sense of being male, female, both, neither, or something else. Since gender identity is internal, one’s gender identity is not necessarily visible to others.

Harassment under the Nondiscrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy is considered conduct that is based upon an individual’s Protected Class (as defined below) and the conduct is sufficiently severe or pervasive to create a working/educational/living environment that a reasonable person would consider intimidating, hostile, abusive or offensive. A determination of whether conduct is considered hostile is based on the totality of the circumstances of the situation. Isolated incidents or comments (unless extremely serious) will generally not rise to the level of Harassment under this policy. Offensive conduct may include, but is not limited to, offensive jokes, slurs, epithets, physical assault or threats, intimidation, ridicule or mockery, offensive objects or images, or interference with work performance.

A stereotype or bias that occurs outside of conscious awareness and control and is often at odds with one’s conscious values.

Brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral or environmental indignities that tend to be subtle, often unintentional, and indirect. Microaggressions often occur in situations where there are alternative explanations and are more likely to occur when people pretend not to notice differences, thereby denying that race, ethnicity, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, religion, national origin, or any other aspect of identity had anything to do with their actions.

A place from which a person and/or their ancestors originate from.

Individuals belonging to these classes include those with identities that are protected from Discrimination and/or Harassment under applicable laws and University policy. Such Protected Classes are race, color, religion, sex, national or ethnic origin, including actual or perceived shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics or citizenship or residency in a country with a dominant religion or distinct religious identity (including, but not limited to, individuals who are or are perceived to be Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, Israeli, Arab, or Palestinian, or who come from or are perceived to come from other regions of the world or are members of another religious group), age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, caste, or any other characteristic protected under applicable law or University policy.

Refers to the concept of dividing people into populations or groups on the basis of various sets of physical characteristics that result from genetic ancestry. Sociologists use the concept of race to describe how people think of and treat groups of people, as people very commonly classify each other according to race (e.g., as African-American or as Asian).

Retaliation is any action, statement, or behavior meant as reprisal or retribution against an individual in response to the individual’s good-faith report or participation in a proceeding related to this policy. Any retaliatory action taken directly or indirectly against a person who has made a report, filed a complaint, or participated in an investigation is prohibited.

Separate from gender, this term refers to the cluster of biological, chromosomal and anatomical features associated with maleness and femaleness in the human body. Sex is often used synonymously with gender in this culture. Although the two terms are related, they should be defined separately to differentiate the biological (“sex”) from the sociocultural (“gender”).

An individual’s physical and/or emotional attraction to and desire to sexually or emotionally partner with specific genders and/or sexes (e.g., homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual, pansexual, asexual).

The social standing or class of an individual or group. It is often measured as a combination of education, income and occupation.