The Kansas City Star: Missouri pursuing criminal background checks for professors
Newly hired professors at the University of Missouri’s four campuses may soon join the ranks of janitors, cafeteria workers, bus drivers and others who must undergo criminal background checks before joining the payroll.
The developing policy isn’t a response to a particular case but instead a recognition that faculty members should be treated the same as other university employees, said Frank Schmidt, a biochemistry professor helping to develop the new standards.
“Most of our vetting of faculty has to do with their academic qualifications,” he said. “We’re just starting the conversation about what (a new policy) would cover.”
Schmidt acknowledged that the mere discussion of such a policy is likely to raise hackles about threats to academic freedom as well as personal privacy.
In 2004, the American Association of University Professors released a statement opposed to broad background checks, citing the “moral cost of adopting a general policy … in order to identify the rare special case.”
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