Report An Incident Form

Difference Between Offensive, Bias Incidents, and Hate Crimes

As a Jesuit institution, we are mindful of protecting freedom of speech, however, our community values do not condone speech or other behaviors that are rooted in intentional displays of hate and the promotion of systemic exclusionary practices.

Please keep in mind that the expression of an idea or point of view may be offensive or inflammatory to some, but is not necessarily a bias-related incident. Xavier University values freedom of expression and the open inquiry of ideas that result in the common good of our students, local communities and the world. Controversial ideas that are not rooted in hate, dominance over others or the marginalization of certain groups of peoples should be promoted on a college campus. Expressions of online or in-person harassment (including social messaging, vandalism and intimidation) that violate our Harassment Code and Accountability Procedures (HCAP) overrides our openness to engage controversial ideas.

Hate by itself is not a crime. A hate crime is a traditional criminal offense like murder, arson, invasion of privacy or vandalism with an added element of bias towards a federally protected class of people. For the purposes of collecting statistics, Congress and the Clery Act collectively define hate crime as a "criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender's bias against a race, ethnicity, gender, religion, economic status, national origin, disability, age or sexual orientation." Hate crimes will be handled by campus police. Adapted from Davidson University