Feb. 24, 2016

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SJU Theatre Company debuts ‘How I Learned to Drive’ p. 8

Feb. 24, 2016

Photo by Joey Toczylowski ’19

The Student Newspaper of Saint Joseph’s University | Volume XCV | Est. 1929 | www.hawkhillnews.com

Privacy prevails

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17-year-old-freshmen, the law treats those students as if they were adults because they are approaching 18. After the deliberation was finished and the resolution was formed, it was sent to University President Mark Reed, Ed.D., for approval. Once received, Reed spoke with faculty and made the decision that background checks would no longer be mandatoryat St. Joe’s. “The text is very explicit. If you are a current faculty member and you haven’t been fingerprinted and background checked, you do not need to go through the process if you do not work with minors,” Green said. “If your situation changes and you work with minors, it is your job to report to Human Resources and get yourself taken care of [and] background checked.” St. Joe’s faculty must send a letter to HR in order to be exempt from background checks, according to Parry. “There was a feeling among many faculty that since background checks haven’t been shown to protect children, since training is the best way to protect children, why invest the resources in background checks especially if it’s not required by the law?” Green added. This discussion also brought up the

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After much deliberation and conversation amongst the Saint Joseph’s University community, background checks for facultywere deemed as no longer mandatory. This decision came after years of debate in the Pennsylvania legislature, as well as ongoing conversation on Saint Joseph’s campus. “There was concern about background checks since the first university announcement about background checks,” said Ann Green, Ph.D., professor of English and president of Faculty Senate. “Faculty feel like it is an invasion of privacy and that if you have been a long term employee of the institution and you have served in good standing, why does anyone need to invade your privacy and do a background check?” Former governor Tom Corbett signed a law in October of 2014 mandating that all faculty, administrators, and staff on college or university campuses partake in background checks, according to the Faculty Background Check Policy Resolution. St. Joe’s complied with this law two months later. In July of 2015, current governor Tom Wolf signed a law that exempts employees of higher institutions from needing background checks. The law was signed, but St. Joe’s did not comply with that law until the end of last semester. Instead they kept the initial law and still required that all employees get background checks. Employees felt as though the university was going above the necessary requirements. The first place they went to voice their concerns was the Faculty Senate. “As early as last spring faculty were upset about background checks,” Green said. “It came up several times in the summer. …

St. Joe’s was going beyond the law in requiring background checks of all employees.” The Safe Environment Taskforce was formed in 2012 in order to research background checks and report the information found to the Board of Trustees. At the end of the investigation in December 2012, a recommendation was made. “The taskforce recommendation overall was [that] training was more important than background checks,” Green said. “Getting people familiar with what your policies are and who to report to if you see something. So see something, say something, that’s more effective than background checking your employees. The committee recommended that it didn’t make sense to do retroactive background checks because they don’t increase the safety of children on your campus.” During the October Faculty Senate meeting, a vote took place to decide the faculty’s stance on background checks. The executive council of the Faculty Senate, or the members elected to represent the faculty’s voice, voted 23-0 with one abstention to put the proposal forward, and so came the Faculty Background Check Policy Resolution. When explaining the reasoning behind the faculty’s decision, the proposal stated: “Whereas background checks and fingerprinting that, by definition, violate privacy and can lead to situations in which due process is suspended, can be tolerated if deemed necessary, such abridgments of privacy should not otherwise be endured.” The law stipulates that if a professor is dually enrolled in a higher education program and a program that works with minors, they are still required to be background checked, according to David Parry, Ph.D., associate professor and chair of communications. He also added that despite the fact that some faculty work with

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ANA FAGUY ’19 News Editor

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St. Joe’s fingerprinting no longer mandatory

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topic of privacy for faculty at St. Joe’s. Although the process has now been changed, faculty who were fingerprinted under the previous law gave their information to a third party source that then conducted the background check. “Once that information is out there you can’t get it back,” Parry said. “I know of no way possible to get that back. Data once in the world is very hard to erase. You have to be vigilant if you want to protect your privacy.”

Center for International Programs in transition Office restructures after staffing changes SAM HENRY ’19 Assistant Distribution Manager

The front door of the CIP office on City Avenue (Photo by Matthew J. Haubenstein, M.A., ’17).

Last semester, 43 staff and administrative positions were terminated, resulting in the layoffs of 14 Saint Joseph’s University employees. One of the offices affected by these structural changes was the Center for International Programs. Saint Joseph’s Center for International Programs (CIP) provides services and programs for international students and for students who wish to study abroad or travel through a study tour. “At the beginning of the academic year, or say back in June, the Center for International Programs had one director, three assistant directors, two coordinators, and an international student advisor. So seven people,” said Cary Anderson, Ph.D, vice president of Student Life and associate provost.

The Center for International Programs reports to Anderson, as well as the Office of Student Life. Three individuals have left the office, leaving the CIP understaffed. There were originally seven positions in the office, but currently only four of those positions remained filled. The temporary lack of employees in the office has not made it easy for the remaining staff. “Quite frankly, people are doing double duty [and] doing some extra work,” said Anderson. “For example, the assistant director, in our international students program that works with our international students who come here, is assisting in doing the visa forms and all those kind of things, where the international student advisor would have done much of that work.” CONTINUED ON P. 3


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