A proposal to run across-the-board background checks on all new Ohio University employees recently drew the ire of faculty, who say the policy isn't necessary and raises privacy concerns.
Although some departments and colleges run criminal background checks on employees in sensitive positions - those who work with minors, handle money, etc. - OU does not have a clear policy.
A committee during the 2007-08 year met to draft an official policy, which would have mandated criminal checks for any applicant who tells the university that he or she has a criminal record or an indictment pending and any person applying for a sensitive position.
The proposed policy calls for OUPD to run a basic state and national check on any potential employee, regardless of self-identification or position. A state check costs OU $28 and a national check costs $30.
Applicants with criminal records and those applying for sensitive positions would undergo further checks.
The hiring departments are responsible for all background check fees and departments that don't typically conduct checks are concerned about adding that cost to already-tight budgets.
Journalism professor Bernhard Debatin, who was on the committee a year ago, said it was clear at the time that faculty were opposed to blanket background checks.
It's a very deep invasion of people's privacy and usually it needs to be justified somehow
Debatin said. It seems there's very little necessity for that ... You don't shoot flies with a cannon.
Debatin added that faculty already face reference and credential checks, something the new policy also formalizes. Those checks confirm the facts on faculty resumes.
John Biancamano, OU's director of Legal Affairs, said the new policy is an effort to keep up with hiring standards in academia and the business world.
If the information is available it would be irresponsible to say we just don't want to know he said, adding he doesn't see a privacy concern because there is no expectation of privacy when it comes to a person's criminal record.
The proposed policy does not call for a candidate to be disqualified if they have a criminal record. It requires a committee made up of members of the hiring department, Legal Affairs, OUPD, Human Resources and Safety and Risk Management to evaluate how relevant the offense is to the job. How long ago the crime happened, what the person has done since and their performance at other jobs would also be considered.
In 2004, eight of Ohio's 17 public colleges and universities conducted across-the-board background checks, according to documents from Legal Affairs. The office said it is a growing trend not only in higher education but also in the corporate world, a standard courts might hold OU to if the university was ever held liable for an employee's actions.
Debatin questioned that argument in an e-mail to the provost, however, indicating that his quick look at 15 of the top schools in the country showed that only two require general criminal background checks.
I doubt that this is rapidly becoming a standard policy at major institutions
Debatin wrote. That argument was already made in 2007 and turned out not to be well supported.
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Emily Grannis
