This reporting form is not intended for emergency response. If you need to report an emergency or incident that poses an imminent risk of harm, please call the SBU's Office of Safety & Security at 716-375-2525 or dial 911.

St. Bonaventure University strongly encourages the reporting of all bias incidents on campus or at university-sponsored events or activities occurring off campus. When off campus, if you need to report an emergency or incident that poses an imminent risk of harm, call 911.

A person commits a hate crime when they commit a specified offense of New York State Penal Law (PEN § 485.05 Hate Crimes) and either: 

• intentionally selects the person against whom the offense is committed or intended to be committed in whole or in substantial part because of a belief or perception regarding the race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, religion, religious practice, age, disability or sexual orientation of a person, regardless of whether the belief or perception is correct, or
• intentionally commits the act or acts constituting the offense in whole or in substantial part because of a belief or perception regarding the race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, religion, religious practice, age, disability or sexual orientation of a person, regardless of whether the belief or perception is correct.

All violent felony offenses, including hate crimes and reports that a student who resides in housing owned or operated by the university is missing, reported to the university, occurring on campus or on university-owned property, will be reported to an appropriate law enforcement agency. Notification to the appropriate law enforcement agency will be made as soon as practicable but in no case more than twenty-four hours after a report. In sexual offense incidents, the university will inform each victim of their options to notify proper law enforcement authorities, including on-campus and local police; inform the victim of the right to report or not to report such offense to local law enforcement agencies; and offer the option to be assisted by campus authorities in notifying such authorities, if the victim of sexual assault so chooses.  

What is a bias incident?

St. Bonaventure University defines a bias incident as any act committed against a person or property, not rising to the level of a crime, motivated by the offender’s conscious or unconscious bias against a person or group’s perceived race, religion, creed, color, sex, gender, pregnancy (including childbirth and related medical conditions), age, national or ethnic origin, marital status, veteran status, disability, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, genetic information or predisposition, domestic violence victim status, familial status, or any other protected category under applicable local, state, or federal law (collectively, “Protected Characteristics”).

Bias incident management and response

When a bias incident report is received, an initial assessment of the report is done to determine whether the reported incident rises to the level of a hate crime. Reported bias incidents that are not a violation under a university policy will be referred to a Bias Incident Response Team. A response team is appointed based on the incident reported, the reporting party (if known), and the responding party (if known). The appointed response team will review the report and determine and execute a proper course of action. 

When contact information is provided in a report, the university will notify the reporting individual(s) within 24 hours of receipt of the report of the following information: