The Faculty Senate has debated self-disclosure for prospective professors over the past year, and now students are also getting a chance to voice their views.
With two weeks remaining until the Faculty Senate Executive Committee meets to discuss the proposed criminal self-disclosure policy for faculty, student leaders have been meeting with members of the Faculty Senate to discuss the divisive issue.
The recent discussions mark the first time student leaders have sought to weigh in on the issue of faculty self-disclosure.
Penn has been considering self-disclosure as part of its hiring-practices review, initiated last January following the discovery that a graduate student and two other members of the University's staff were convicted sex offenders.
Last week, leaders from both the Undergraduate Assembly and the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly had their first chance to meet with Faculty Senate chairman Larry Gladney to discuss their perspectives on the issue.
The meeting allowed the UA to ask questions about self-disclosure and receive an update on the hiring-practices review, Gladney said.
UA vice chairman of External Affairs Wilson Tong also met separately with Gladney on Monday to further discuss undergraduate concerns in relation to the new policy.
"Students are mostly concerned with safety issues that might arise from student-faculty interaction," Tong said.
Gladney refused to comment on the content of any discussion prior to the Executive Committee meeting.
The Faculty Senate is not in favor of self-disclosure, as it does not believe disclosure has increased campus safety at other universities where the policy is currently in use, Tong said.
He added that if the Faculty Senate does not adopt a self-disclosure policy, the UA would want to work with faculty "to explore all options available to make undergraduates feel safer inside the classroom."
Tonight, Gladney is scheduled to attend a GAPSA general-assembly meeting to further discuss the issue.
"GAPSA always brings the hottest issues into our General Assembly for people to talk and react to," GAPSA chairman Dan Grabell said.
GAPSA is considering making the meeting - which would normally be open to the public - a closed discussion, Grabell said.
Gladney said student input is important, and he will report what he hears at the Executive Committee meeting.
