Michigan State University provides students with reporting system to achieve what the school describes as a “safe and supportive environment” for its community members.
The school’s Culturally Inclusive College Sharing System (CIC) is an online submission form allows the university to “track and respond to behaviors and situations that work to support or detract from [its] goals of a safe and supportive environment.”
The form tells students that some protected speech can still warrant a report. Anything intended to “intimidate, demean, mock, degrade, marginalize, or threaten” their identities, real or perceived, is worth notifying the university about. Actions need not be intended to harm and can do as little as promote a “negative, hostile, or unwelcoming environment for the target.”
Students can specify whether they are requesting the college to take action or are simply supplying information to help “track trends and help determine patterns.” The second kind of report also allows students to share good deeds that support diversity and inclusion goals.
MSU’s CIC system is similar to the widespread COVID-reporting strategies that have been adopted by universities over the past year, which have encouraged students to report peers who do not comply with COVID-19 regulations.