[Oacrao-l] Asking applicants if they have a felony

[Agnew, Ina]

OSU Institute of Technology follows OSHRE policy to review non-academic issues. We do ask about felony convictions and other types of questions. While it may be a national conversation, I will tell you that we are steadfast that it should be part of the admissions process.

*         Prior to the implementation of the Non Academic Criteria Committee, OSUIT (police, residential life staff, etc.) dealt with an increasing load of gang activity/violence, drug use/abuse/sales, student conduct suspensions, etc. We had gang members coming to OSUIT from Texas, primarily.

*         Since the review of applicants through this committee, we've seen those numbers decline-drastically.

*         There are some industries that will not hire convicted felons. Automotive dealerships, for the most part, will not hire convicted felons. If a felon is applying to a program where this is the industry hiring practice, we're able to work with faculty to determine if the felon would be able to obtain an internship-a graduation requirement of all of our technical programs. Some faculty will even "mentor" these students through their programs.

*         We've already received word that this may be the last year higher ed presidents will have the discretion to allow or disallow weapons on campus. If weapons are allowed, and you can't ask this question, how will you know who can legally carry and cannot? The national recidivism rate is extremely high for certain felony convictions. If someone literally just got out of prison, what is the likelihood that s/he will be successful without some kind of support? Nil.

*         If a convicted felon is approved for admission, and we do approve quite a lot, we are able to put resources at the person's disposal. Students who are approved enter on a period of probation, dependent upon the felony, with the caveat that they must also meet with the Director of Residential Life who discusses resources the person may want to access. It lets the students know: (1) we want you to be successful, and (2) we will hold you accountable.

*         Again, dependent upon the type of conviction, we may place the students on a monitoring list to check in with them periodically and make sure they are acclimating and know what resources we have available.

*         Academic performance-wise, we don't see a difference between the general population and this population.

Ina Agnew, Ph.D.
Vice President for Student Services
OSU Institute of Technology
1801 E. 4th Street
Okmulgee, OK 74447
918-293-4761, direct
918-293-4715, fax



From: Oacrao-l [mailto:oacrao-l-bounces at lists.onenet.net] On Behalf Of Adam Johnson
Sent: Thursday, December 5, 2019 11:51 AM
To: Oacrao-l at lists.onenet.net<mailto:Oacrao-l at lists.onenet.net>
Subject: [Oacrao-l] Asking applicants if they have a felony

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Good morning, all!

Like many of you, UCO asks admission applicants if they have committed a felony.   There have been some folks on campus who have questioned whether or not it's been helpful/useful for the institution rather than a possible hindrance or barrier for students.  Our Student Conduct office as well as staff from our Legal department have mentioned that this has been a national conversation (to question whether or not it should be included), so I thought I would ask you all as well.  So...

Do you ask your applicants if they have committed a felony, and if so, do you feel it's been helpful at all? If it has, can you elaborate how?  Likewise, if you felt it's been a barrier of any kind, I'd appreciate it if you could share those experiences as well.  For what it's worth, we're digging into some data to see how our students who've marked "yes" on the application have performed (# of hours, GPAs, if they persist, graduate, etc).  We don't have that data yet, however.

Thanks, and I hope everyone is enjoying the tail end of the fall semester!

Adam Johnson, Ed.D.
Associate Vice President/Registrar
100 N. University Drive,
NUC 118A, Box 151
Edmond, OK  73034
www.uco.edu<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.uco.edu%2F&data=02%7C01%7Cina.agnew%40okstate.edu%7C928985143b7e4789956c08d779c25250%7C2a69c91de8494e34a230cdf8b27e1964%7C0%7C0%7C637111747823268447&sdata=i6QeMwah3GrTPCv0G9Tkv7l1mgqusw7oZz926vWyW2g%3D&reserved=0>
(405)974-2385
(405)974-3930
Go Bronchos!

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