After years of conversations and months of studying other schools’ practices, Washington University’s Bias Report and Support System (BRSS) went live Monday.

The online form allows students to report incidents ranging from unequal treatment to text message harassment in which they felt targeted because of bias. Victims can request anonymity or a follow-up appointment with a trained member of the newly formed BRSS team, who will guide them through the process of pursuing their preferred kind of resolution—whether that is a larger community discussion or consequences for those responsible.

Pushed to the forefront of University priorities after two racially divisive incidents on campus in the past year, the system is the first tangible creation under the campus-wide Mosaic Project. Organizers say it is long overdue.

“It’s something that I thought about when I first started at Wash. U.,” Naomi Daradar Sigg, former assistant director of Student Involvement and Leadership and co-chair of the committee that created the system, said. After seven years at the University, Sigg left to work at Case Western Reserve University in October.

“I asked one of my colleagues, where do students go when they might experience incidents of bias or discrimination?” she said. “A lot of the answers I got is they would probably talk to their [resident advisor] or [residential college director] or Dean [James] McLeod. I found there wasn’t a centralized place for students to report these incidents and know there would be a follow-up.”

Although she discussed the project with McLeod in 2007 or 2008, Sigg said it was several years before she found enough support from both faculty and students to move further, and she did not start taking tangible steps on the project until 2012. Sigg began working with a small number of students to research the bias response systems of other schools—particularly the University of Chicago—to figure out the best one to bring to Washington University.

It quickly became wrapped into the Mosaic Project when the diversity and inclusion initiative was launched in response to the Bear’s Den incident—when a Sigma Alpha Epsilon pledge recited a rap song containing a racial slur in front of a group students, some of whom were black—last spring.

“There are a couple models out there where the BRSS, or whatever it’s called at that equivalent university, takes matters into their own hands and charges forward addressing the situation—and we really found that that would be a disempowering model,” Jessica Wilen, coordinator of the Mosaic Project, said. “We focus on supporting the student…which we think is very important and empowering in a situation that can sometimes very disempowering.”

While the BRSS was under development, a controversy broke out on Facebook due to a photo of students in U.S. soldier costumes pointing mock weapons at a student who appeared to some to be dressed as Osama bin Laden.

Gaby Dinkin, chair of the Diversity Affairs Council and co-chair of the BRSS committee, said the system should make students realize they have better options than voicing discontent on social media.

“When these situations do happen, we know about the ones that blew up really big, but…we don’t know about any events that didn’t—that someone just pushed to the side and tried to forget about,” Dinkin said. “That’s really problematic for our community.”

Wilen would not specify the number of reports that had been filed but noted that the system was already being used as of Wednesday afternoon. Wilen plans to meet with Sharon Stahl, vice chancellor for students, every quarter to discuss the reports on an administrative level.

The consolidated BRSS reports, detailing all incidents but omitting personal or identifying information, will also go on the website on a quarterly basis. Wilen said the reports will give students and community members an idea about what kind of incidents are happening on campus.

“We want to balance the reporter’s confidentiality with informing the community of what’s going on here,” Wilen said.

Organizers said the BRSS will ultimately be housed in the forthcoming Center for Diversity and Inclusion, which will tentatively work on programming related to trends of bias that come to light through the system.

“I think it’ll be something that people will learn about as freshmen,” Dinkin said. “It’ll be when they teach you about [the Sexual Assault and Rape Anonymous Helpline], and when they teach you about [Student Health Services] and Uncle Joe’s [Peer Counseling]—it’ll be something everyone will know about. I don’t know how often it will be used, but it will be used when people need it.”

The Bias Report and Support System has an official launch event next Wednesday at 4 p.m. in Umrath Lounge.