“We are taking a proactive approach,” McGlothian-Taylor said. “There are language barriers and cultural differences we fear that some may feel. We want to work on increasing that trust by attending meetings and listening to concerns and finding positive ways to solve issues.”

McGlothian-Taylor said there will be training available to all community members about explicit and implicit bias.

"This is ongoing training,” McGlothian-Taylor said. “You can’t learn everything in an hour and a half. With this unit, when something happens, we will document and investigate it."

NiCole Buchanan, assistant professor of MSU’s Department of Psychology and one of the instructors for the program, said she believes teaching students about bias can create an overall better academic environment on campus.

“Bias is one of these things that is this insidious, silent thing that moves through organizations and is incredibly, incredibly destructive in the individual lives and the life of an organization,” Buchanan said. “Providing training and a diverse education fosters academic excellence.”

Buchanan said bias training can make students more creative, flexible and give them better communication skills.

One of the instructors for the training sessions, Paulette Granberry Russell, said her goal for the training is to heighten people's awareness of he unconscious biases many people hold.

“We hope to be able to do work that will expand people’s understanding of ways that you can de-bias and strategies to encounter bias," Granberry Russell said

The State News received no response from members of the Black Student Alliance before publishing this article.