The University of Florida is encouraging students to report offensive Halloween costumes that “harm” them so the school can “educate” the students involved.
In an administrative newsletter posted on The Gator Times, the University of Florida asked students to “think about your choices of costumes and themes.”
According to the university, making the wrong Halloween costume choice can result in “harm and offense” because costumes can potentially “reinforce stereotypes of particular races, genders, cultures, or religions.”
If students happen to run across one of those harmful costumes, the school offers an array of resources to help. The school writes students can rely on the 7-days-a-week U Matter, We Care program or the 24/7 counseling service in the Counseling and Wellness Center.
The school also informs students they can file a bias incident report against the students who wear the allegedly harmful costumes. The University of Florida claims the school will be there to “educate those that were involved”:
... [T]he Bias Education and Response Team at the University of Florida is able to respond to any reported incidents of bias, to educate those that were involved, and to provide support by connecting those that were impacted to the appropriate services and resources. You may submit a bias incident report at www.umatter.ufl.edu/stopbias.
The Stop Bias website includes links allowing students to report a bias incident to the university or to the University of Florida Police Department.
The University of Florida Bias Education and Response Team Incident Reporting Form does not include “offensive Halloween costume” as a listed “type of incident.” However, students can select “other” and explain their particular circumstance.
The “bias/hate incidents” covered by the bias reporting system include bias based on ability, race, religion, gender identity, immigration status, marital status, nationality, and even political affiliation.
For those who are not intimidated by the possibility of being reported for a bias incident and having to be reeducated by the school bureaucrats, the University of Florida also notes, “The University of Florida’s Division of Student Affairs Diversity and Social Justice Statement reminds us that UF fosters a community that values and respects diversity. An inclusive definition of diversity recognizes the variety of personal and social experiences that make individuals and communities different from one another.”