University Business - February 2011 - (Page 20)

BEHIND the NEWS Reconsidering Criminal Records A SURVEY ASSESSING THE USE AND NECESSITY OF CRIMINAL HIS tories in the admissions process has resulted in a report that states the role of such information should be reconsidered and not used in admissions decisions. The report is based on a comprehensive 59-question survey sent to 273 institutions by the Center for Community Alternatives, in collaboration with the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. Sixty-four percent of respondents reported that their admissions applications require students to disclose their criminal histories. There has been no concrete link established between having a criminal record and posing a safety threat on campus, and there is an inherent racial discrimination involved in requiring students to provide information on criminal records, the report notes. “What we hope comes from this report is for administrators to recognize the huge disproportionate level of criminal records falling on the African American population,” says co-author Alan Rosenthal, who is co-director of justice strategies for the Center for Community Alternatives. Typical deans are not criminologists or sociologists. “They’re not expected to have this disparity on the forefront of their minds so it has all these unintended consequences of undermining commitments to diversity,” Rosenthal says. About 20 percent of colleges and universities perform background checks, usually through a private company. Other universities do not require disclosure or only require students seeking admissions to certain programs such as health-related degrees to provide this information. For institutions that elect to continue using criminal histories on applications, the report highlights a need to modify the way in which this information is ascertained and utilized. Twp suggestions include: • removing the criminal justice information disclosure • limiting the type of disclosure to felonies within five years of seeking admissions to a college or university and only if the applicant was over age 19. The researchers found the majority of responding institutions did not have written parameters in place for assessing applicants who have indicated they have a criminal history; 40 percent have trained staff to appropriately evaluate the meaning of the information provided. In addition, only 55 percent of institutions that use this information in the admissions process provide support or supervision for students with criminal records once admitted. Rosenthal suggests that safety is behind institutions looking into applicants’ criminal histories. “One can only suppose their purpose is to make campuses safer,” he says. “What they’re doing is undermining an overall societal safety. Education does work; the more educated you are, the more likely you are to be employed,” she says. And preventing people who have committed crimes from attending college, he adds, creates “a less safe society.” For the full report, visit www.communityalternatives.org. —KeriLee Horan SOUND BITE U Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses By Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa; University of Chicago Press, 2011; 260 pp; $25 We probably could have predicted this. Early results are in from the College Learning Assessment and they are not good. The tool, launched in 2009 to test students at the beginning of their freshman year and again at the end of the sophomore year, measures progress in critical thinking skills, complex reasoning, and writing. Sadly, the results revealed little real growth in any of these areas. The authors of Academically Adrift say the findings are not surprising given that, at least in these two formative years, learning takes a back seat to socializing. But more disturbing is that it exposes what education researcher George Kuh calls a “disengagement compact.” That’s when faculty let students get by with minimum effort. The research shows that this complaint, often leveled at K-12 teachers, persists in higher education. The result is limited learning by students, and institutions that have drifted away from their primary mission. The authors propose a series of reforms that they believe can help reverse the tide. —Tim Goral ‘T he return on our investment is going to be extraordinary. — Washington state Rep. Reuven Carlyle, about digital open source textbooks for community colleges ‘ 20 | February 2011 universitybusiness.com http://www.communityalternatives.org http://www.universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business - February 2011

University Business - February 2011
Table of Contents
Editor’s Note
College Index
Company Index
Advisory Board
Behind the News
Viewpoint
Internet Technology
Say it With Signage
A Bursar’s Best Friend
The Lease Piece
Don’t Stop Thinking About the Future
Say it With Signage
Independent Outlook
What’s New
End Note

University Business - February 2011