University of Michigan Drops Bias Response Team

The University of Michigan will not reinstate its bias response team as part of a settlement with a nonprofit group that had argued that the team threatened free speech on campus, MLive reported. The settlement comes a month after a federal appeals court backed the lawsuit from Speech First, a civil liberties-focused organization based in Washington.

Michigan's bias response team was tasked with investigating campus incidents that could be deemed racist, sexist, hostile to LGBTQ students or offensive to certain groups of people. Such teams are fairly common at colleges and universities, although their mandate varies.

The university said it was replacing the team with its Campus Climate Support function, which "is committed to providing support for those who may have been targets of or affected by campus climate concerns."