An Iona College faculty member contacted the administration on Sept. 11, claiming to be a victim to a recent bias incident.

The faculty member, who has requested anonymity, received an anonymous letter containing language the individual found offensive, according to Dr. Mark Kiselica, the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs.

While the school identified the person receiving the letter as being a member of the faculty, Kiselica said the school could not be more specific.

“It’s shocking and unacceptable that an incident like that could occur on what normally seems like such an inclusive and welcoming campus,” SGA Executive Vice President and junior Thomas Severin said. “I truly believe this is an isolated incident and not the norm. I still have faith that the students of Iona College are open, accepting, and committed to celebrating the diversity of our students, faculty, staff, and administration.”

The administration alerted the college community of the incident on Sept. 11 by way of a Campus Communiqué email.

“There are so many diverse students and faculty here, bias is not okay,” said sophomore Olivia Fargiano, the president of Gael Pride (formally known as the Gay-Straight Alliance). “There should be more info than the email. There is nothing I can tell my club to act on if we don’t know what happened.”

The College ran an investigation spearheaded by the Office of Campus Safety and Security. Security has not found any major threat to the faculty member. Iona referred the matter to law enforcement officials in New Rochelle, but Kiselica did not identify which agency the school contacted.

“We are very confident that although we were concerned about this note, there is no danger to the faculty member or anyone else in the community,” Kiselica said. “We found nothing that we felt was of additional concern. We reacted very quickly to this report; we took it seriously, and we feel confident that this matter is behind us.”

The Communiqué directed people who would like to report a bias incident to take at least one of three measures.

One option is to call Dr. Tresmaine Grimes, who is the College’s ombudswoman, at (914) 633-2206 or email her at [email protected].

Another option is to contact Campus Security, which can be reached at (914) 633-2560.

“I’m happy there is some system in place for students and faculty members to feel comfortable about reporting any kind of incident where they feel victimized,” said senior Brigid McGlynn, the undergraduate programming assistant for diversity groups.

While the first two options are to contact authorities in the Iona community, the third route is to call the anonymous whistleblower hotline, which is specifically for Iona College and run by Lighthouse Services. Lighthouse provides a 24-hour reporting service that allows employees to confidentially report inappropriate conduct.

The hotline can be reached via phone at (877) 472-2110 or email at [email protected].

“We believe in doing everything we can to foster a community that is sensitive to everybody’s needs,” Kiselica said. “Fostering that atmosphere will help to prevent these kinds of incidents in the future.”