Marisol Lara has seen the impacts of bias and hate at the University of Idaho.
“I’ve seen it on a daily basis with students who come in and experience these things and they really don’t how to go about it, who to report to,” said Lara, program assistant at the Office of Tribal Relations.
The Stop the Hate workshop, which will be held at 11:30 a.m. Monday in Administration Building room 217, is meant to teach faculty, staff and students how to stop and prevent hate on campus and in the community.
Director of the Women’s Center Lysa Salsbury said the event is an introductory workshop that will teach people what constitutes a bias incident or hate crime. She said it will also educate people about the resources on campus available when reporting these incidents.
“The idea is to start to develop a culture where people are noticing things that happen,” Salsbury said. “A lot of times when acts of bias and discrimination don’t affect us personally, we don’t necessarily see them or notice them.”
The workshop is part of an ongoing program, and Salsbury said this year is slightly different. While the trainings have always been open to faculty and staff, they were not recorded on an employee’s professional development record. Professional Development and Learning is now a central organizer of the event, which Salsbury said allows the trainers more time to focus on the curriculum and to have employees’ attendance reflected in their professional development logs.
She said people can register for the event at uidaho.edu/human-resources/pdl/calendar. This training is specifically directed at faculty and staff, but Salsbury said it is open to students as well.
Lara said she remembers many hate crimes directed at LGBT students in Moscow in 2011 and 2012.
“They would go to their dorm rooms and write a lot of really bad slurs,” Lara said. “And just destroying their property, burning the flags.”
The workshop will teach the distinction between a bias incident and a hate crime, which Lara said some people confuse.
“That’s why this training does help,” Lara said. “Like, ‘Well you can do this and this,’ but of course don’t do anything if it is going to be endangering your life.”
Salsbury said much of the material is based on sympathetic reaction and looking at the bigger picture of the impact of hate.
“Understand not just how it affects the victim, but then how it affects their community, their family and friends, the institution as a whole,” Salsbury said. “There are ripple effects that kind of echo out into the rest of the community. And what does that say about our campus and our proactive desire to create, you know, an environment that is safe and inclusive and welcoming for everybody?”
Salsbury said these programs mean a lot to communities that experience hate.
“To have a university prioritize awareness and education around this topic sends a huge message to students that they’re supported, that their concerns are heard, that they’re valued members of our university community and that it’s everyone’s responsibility to help create a safe and inclusive environment,” Salsbury said. “You can’t do that unless everyone’s on board.”
Jack Olson
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