UIUC Public Safety and Bias Incident Updates

There has been some handy local coverage highlighting new public safety data and comparing bias incident reporting over recent years. I have some excerpts from that below. They've also been covering quiet a bit of the debate and concerns about antisemitism on campus after an incident and letter sparked controversy over issues relating to Israel and Palestine.

Here's a quick list of context links for people interested in the incidents and responses that have stirred up debate and controversy locally:

• UIPD public safety data article from the DI
• Bias incident data over recent years from WILL
   
• News-Gazette coverage of resident hall adviser meeting that sparked controversy
• Daily Illini coverage of the fallout from that presentation, the Chancellor's letter and other recent antisemitic events on campus
• Protests over the Chancellor's letter from the N-G
• Coverage of the student government meeting revolving around these issues from the DI
• Student government meeting coverage, including resolution voted on from the N-G
   
• Recent reported incident of racial slurs being shouted from a truck waving Confederate symbols in campustown from Fox Illinois
• UIPD response to the Confederate truck incident from the DI

I'll be highlighting the UIPD public safety data and bias incident data from the first two links below. The other links are for those interested in the controversy and context. As even the short descriptions of the links imply, there is a wide variety of perspectives and passion on these issues locally. I leave it to the reader to weigh their own concerns about public safety, free speech, academic freedom, and the historical contexts locally and around the globe.

From the article on UIPD safety statistics:

The University Police published the Annual Security and Fire Safety Report, Thursday in order to increase transparency around campus.

The publishing of this report falls under the requirement of the federal Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Police and Campus Crime Statistics Act and contains statistics from 2016-2018 on crime and fire-related incidents on campus as well as campus policies on safety-related activities.

In an effort to make the report more user-friendly and transparent, the most recent report was published as a website instead of a PDF document, with more navigation functions and greater accessibility for different screen sizes.

In a statement, Police Chief Craig Stone said the report was being released not just to comply with federal law, but to create a more informed campus.

Full article here. UIPD press release at their blog here and report website here.

WILL had recent bias incident data, including a chart examining the recent increase in bias incidents reported on campus with a breakdown of the type of incidents:

University documents show that reports of bias incidents, which would include swastikas, have increased dramatically over the last five years. The U of I defines these reports as being motivated, at least in part, by hostility or prejudice toward a person or group of people because of their perceived race, ethnicity, religion, gender and sexual orientation, among other attributes.

Reports of bias incidents more than doubled between 2013 and 2018 — with 62 total reports in the former year and 128 in the latter.

Reports of religious only bias incidents also soared during the same time period — with five reported in 2013-14 school year compared to 22 reported in 2017-18. During the 2017-18 school year, 16 incidents were classified as anti-Semitic, and 14 were categorized as anti-Islamic in nature. Prior to 2017-18, reports of swastikas were categorized as "unclassified" rather than anti-Semitic, and reports from prior years do not include a breakdown of religious bias incidents by denomination.

Full article with additional information and links here.

Update 11/8: Another recent incident was in the news about a week after this was posted in the Daily Illini here.