Behind the Blue: UK's Carol Taylor-Shim Discusses Bias

Note: This article contains a reference to UK's Bias Incident Response Team, which no longer exists. To report discrimination, harassment or sexual misconduct, visit https://cm.maxient.com/reportingform.php?UnivofKentucky&layout_id=30.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 27, 2017) — Bias, conscious and unconscious, can have a much greater impact in our lives than we possibly give credit. It can shape daily decisions, frame our outlook on the world, impact our relationships, and create divisions among us that can jeopardize our business and personal well-being.

In an effort to assist faculty, staff and students, the University of Kentucky created the Bias Incident Response Team, to provide a reporting structure for encounters with bias, as well as a place for people to go for support. Carol Taylor-Shim is the director of the team. Taylor-Shim came to UK as a social justice educator at the Violence Intervention Prevention Center (VIP) in July 2013. She joins us on this episode of UK’s "Behind the Blue" podcast to give more insight on bias.

Taylor-Shim has spent nearly 20 years working with families in need, and says there are steps the university community is taking to address how victims of bias can find support. “When people belong, and know they belong and feel they belong, they engage more, and this place becomes theirs … but we have to work to make sure that is what’s happening.”

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If you have questions or comments about this or any other episode of "Behind the Blue," email us at BehindTheBlue@uky.edu, or tweet your question with #BehindTheBlue.