My adjunct friend teaching at one of the CUNY community colleges never went through a background check to get his teaching post at the time he taught.
When I was asked to serve as his substitute lecturer due to a sudden family emergency, I didn’t go through a background check either.
Once the chair of his department gave his ok, I was on as a substitute lecturer to 2 sections of 50-70 undergrads ranging in age from 17-18 - to a few folks who were middle aged. No one had any issues and the feedback I received was very positive.
In contrast, I had to go through an extensive background check and sign an NDA just to visit an older cousin for a couple of hours at his highly security conscious workplace involving engineering technology. The background check/NDA process was so involved even his then GF/now wife never visited or even went anywhere near his workplace during the decade he worked there.
Most work environments that have sensitive or proprietary info do not allow visitors outside of public areas, once the employee gets them a guest pass allowing access to those areas. Invited guests may be permitted into some operational areas but many areas are restricted. None of this involves any kind of background check.
I google “convicted felons” to check the images and a lot of scary, bruiser guys with prison tats come up. If this is the conscious or sub-conscious image that comes to mind when we see the words “convicted felons” then it is no wonder people don’t want them in society (or the dorms as it were). Perhaps seeing that the reality is larger than that will eventually help people to come to terms with this as an idea. Probably these scary guys are not in the freshman dorms any time soon.
For all of those concerned about the (probably very rare case) of someone with a felony conviction living in the frosh dorm, why not move the question to the dorm application? Remember that most colleges have a substantial commuter population, and those with past felony convictions but have gone straight and narrow since getting out of prison are probably older non-traditional students who have no interest in living in the frosh dorm anyway.
Agree with oldbrookie. It has nothing to do with some silly stereotype about what a felon looks like. These days plenty of people have tattoos. It’s the vulnerability of a young adult being housed in the same room awake or asleep, with their personal possessions, with someone who made such an egregious error of judgment, whether accidental or not, that they were convicted of a felony. I wish them the best of luck in turning their lives around, but don’t make them my kids’ roommate.
So would you want colleges to reject from from attending college entirely, or allow them to attend but not live in the frosh dorm with a “random” roommate?
Haven’t decided, @ucbalumnus. Think it depends on several variables: the circumstance of the conviction, what their status is (ie are they complying with the terms of their release), first time offense? etc.
“Did any of them live in a dorm with traditional frosh students when they entered (or returned to) college after their felony convictions?”
No. All of them were admitted as transfers after community college. Even if they had wanted to live in the dorms, and there had been space, they would have been with upperclassmen.
I should add that I have had several students who are there-but-for-the-grace-of-God non-felons. Students at elite schools who were operating drug rings usually get expelled, and when that happens, the police often tell them to leave the state and don’t attempt to prosecute them. I’ve had a whole bunch of kids in that group. We can find colleges for these kids, so you may end up with a classmate/dormmate who has admitted to multiple felonies, but was never charged with anything. I don’t personally believe these kids are dangerous.
