Release date: 3/22/04
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Read the report.
Washington, D.C.—The American Association of University Professors today released a report titled "Verification and Trust: Background Investigations Preceding Faculty Appointments," formulated by the Association's Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure. In its report, occasioned by the increasing frequency and invasiveness of personnel investigations on campuses, the committee calls for a renewed sense of proportion in such inquiries.
Acknowledging that, to some extent, all background checks entail some compromise of the privacy of candidates, the report urges that the practice be limited to candidacies for positions with significant security considerations. "The privacy of a candidate [for employment] should be compromised only as necessary in order to secure information that may ensure that applicants are qualified to meet the particular obligations of specific positions," the report advises.
The report singles out a "general policy of searching the criminal records, if any, of all applicants for faculty positions" as egregiously disproportionate to reasonable institutional needs. "While it is possible that a search of criminal records might disclose information that could reasonably be thought to have a negative bearing on a particular candidate's suitability for a faculty position, such a discovery must surely be rare. Undertaking such searches is highly invasive of an applicant's privacy and potentially very damaging," the committee's report comments.
Criminal records are "notoriously imprecise" as to criminal guilt. They contain information that ranges from arrest through dismissal or sentencing, and they do not contain important contextual information, the report further observes.
The committee recommends that the scope of background checks should be limited by the specific requirements of a particular position. "We recommend that whenever a college or university contemplates pursuing background checks that are more extensive than those now customary within the academy, it should articulate the specific information it seeks and explain the reasons why it believes such information is necessary."
The American Association of University Professors is a nonprofit charitable and educational organization that promotes academic freedom by supporting tenure, academic due process, and standards of quality in higher education. The AAUP has more than 45,000 members at colleges and universities throughout the United States.
(Posted 03/04)