Bias Education & Programming
The Bias Education Support Team (BEST) develops educational programs, facilitated dialogues, and strategic planning initiatives that help the MiraCosta College community understand bias, respond to emerging challenges, and navigate change. Through partnerships with campus and community organizations, BEST creates opportunities for learning, reflection, dialogue, and collaborative problem-solving.
This page highlights selected BEST programs and initiatives. Information about BEST鈥檚 purpose, membership, bias-incident response responsibilities, and reporting resources is available on the main Bias Education Support Team webpage.
Unpacking Biases: Conversations That Matter to the MiraCosta Community
During the 2023鈥�24 academic year, BEST presented Unpacking Biases: Conversations That Matter to the MiraCosta Community, a webinar series designed to deepen awareness and understanding of biases affecting individuals, institutions, and the MiraCosta College community. The series brought together speakers with professional expertise and lived experience to explore how bias shapes people鈥檚 experiences and how members of the college community can contribute to a more inclusive environment. Topics included:
- Antisemitism
- Anti-DEI bias
- Anti-Blackness
- Anti-immigration bias
- Anti-LGBTQIA+ bias
- Islamophobia
- Anti-trans bias
The series was an important example of BEST鈥檚 educational programming and commitment to creating space for informed discussion about issues affecting the campus community. Information from the series has been embedded in bias education trainings regularly offered to employees through the Office of IDEA.
Additional resources from the webinar series:
Dialogue Circles on Global Crises
In Fall 2024 and Spring 2025, BEST partnered with the National Conflict Resolution Center to organize facilitated dialogue circles focused on global crises. The dialogue circles offered members of the campus community a structured setting in which to listen, reflect, and engage across differing perspectives. Through facilitated conversation, participants were encouraged to approach complex and emotionally challenging issues with curiosity, care, and respect. This initiative reflected BEST鈥檚 commitment to providing relationship-centered opportunities that support constructive dialogue, strengthen understanding, and foster community during periods of conflict and uncertainty.
Policy Insights and Campus Resilience
Throughout Spring 2025, BEST hosted Policy Insights and Campus Resilience, a webinar series open to all MiraCosta College employees and students. The series provided timely information and practical guidance related to: recent and upcoming policy changes, ways in which policy developments could affect the campus community, strategies for navigating change and uncertainty, considerations for supporting students, employees, programs, and services during periods of transition. Through these sessions, BEST sought to make complex developments more accessible and help members of the college community understand their potential implications.
Futures Thinking and Scenario Planning
BEST developed a Futures Thinking-based Scenario Planning Tool to help MiraCosta College anticipate and navigate the effects of an increasingly anti-DEI policy and political climate. The initiative has received national recognition for its forward-looking approach to institutional planning and campus resilience. The tool provides a framework for considering minimal, moderate, and significant potential impacts resulting from federal restrictions or other external developments. It supports structured consideration of:
- Risk assessment
- Policy and compliance
- Funding strategies
- Program adaptation
- Communications planning
- Allies and available resources
- People and organizational culture
- Alternative future scenarios
The framework also supports the monitoring of executive orders, agency guidance, legal decisions, and other federal developments that may affect the college. By considering multiple possible futures rather than relying on a single prediction, the tool helps campus leaders identify risks, explore options, and prepare coordinated responses.
Continuing the Work
BEST continues to develop programming and initiatives in response to emerging issues and the evolving needs of the MiraCosta College community. These efforts are intended to promote informed dialogue, strengthen campus resilience, and provide students and employees with opportunities to learn, connect, and navigate change together.
