Background Screening Incoming College Students

We are seeing a mountain of advocates supporting the use of background checks on college students in the wake of tragedies at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois. We are beginning to see evidence of universities at least considering the use of background checks and there is certainly no shortage of articles written on the topic. I found an article entitled “Wanted: Students, not felons” and I want to reiterate something I’ve said in the past: I’m not sure background checks are really going to help in the majority of cases.

Why? Consider that as a generalization, most incoming students are 17-18 years old. Unless they have committed crimes after turning 18 or were tried as adults for crimes committed before the age of 18, criminal records are going to be hard to find. Any juvenile convictions are sealed and cannot be reported. A school then has to ask itself what offenses deem a prospective student unfit to attend their university.

Here’s the deal. I guess as one who advocates the use of background checks in the corporate world, I can’t say that this endeavor would be useless. For there is the chance, that if one student with a violent past is prevented from admission, than the entire expenditure is worth it. I think universities just have to create reasonable expectations for what this will and will not prevent or accomplish.