The University's review of hiring and admissions practices, originally slated to be finalized this fall, has been delayed indefinitely because of Faculty Senate concerns about requiring faculty hires to disclose criminal backgrounds.
A Faculty Senate committee is in the midst of discussing the possible ramifications of a self-disclosure question, which would potentially be posed to all prospective faculty members.
The review was spurred by last spring's discovery that at least three convicted sex felons were employed by or taking classes at Penn.
Faculty Senate chairman Larry Gladney said that the committee's lengthy considerations are largely due to complex issues surrounding privacy and logistics.
He said the Faculty Senate committee is considering issues such as how the self-disclosure question would be asked, at what point it would be addressed in the hiring process and whether all criminal records are relevant in faculty hires.
For example, Gladney said, if the criminal-background question is not asked until the end of the hiring process and the individual is not hired, "people will speculate that it was something in the criminal background" that led to rejection.
But posing the question in the middle of the process could raise privacy issues, Gladney added.
"Since the faculty-hiring process is much more extensive and much more public than hiring a staff member, it's quite a bit harder to make sure you're protecting privacy the way you want," he said.
If Penn does decide to include a self-disclosure question for faculty, it would be the first Ivy League school to do so.
Ann Franke, president of Wise Results, a firm that advises colleges on legal risks, said it's natural for privacy concerns to arise in such discussions, but added that self-disclosure questions are "much less intrusive" than background checks, which the Faculty Senate is not currently considering in its review.
Self-disclosure questions "give the individual an opportunity to put any background in context," Franke said.
Gladney said the review is a long process because the committee is trying to anticipate and address as many faculty concerns as possible before publicly presenting its recommendations.
Provost's Office spokesman Leo Charney said no timetable had been set for the review's completion, and the results would be presented when all parties involved are satisfied that "the recommendations are appropriate and are done in a thoughtful manner."
Gladney said the Faculty Senate committee is not slated to discuss the issue further with the president and provost until December. He added that major changes in hiring policies for faculty are generally in discussion for about a year before they are implemented.
The sectors of the review that pertain to students and staff are much further along. Possible changes are now being reviewed by high-level administrators, Charney said. He would not say what potential modifications in hiring and admissions practices might come as a result.
Currently, most staff positions require background checks and student applications contain a self-disclosure question. The question was not on the graduate-student application when Kurt Mitman, a convicted sex felon who had been commuting to Penn from a Bucks County prison, applied to the University in December 2005.
