LOS ANGELES (CNS) – U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. plans
to announce during an appearance at UCLA today that he wants colleges to stop
asking applicants about their criminal histories early in the admissions
process, a newspaper reported.
Asking applicants for information about their criminal history can
prevent them from finishing their applications, King says, according to the Los
Angeles Times.
Because a disproportionate number of people who have been charged with
crimes are people of color, these questions increase the barriers disadvantaged
students face when seeking an education, according to the U.S. Department of
Education.
“We believe in second chances and we believe in fairness,” King has
said in a statement cited by The Times. “We must ensure that more people …
have the chance at higher education opportunities.”
King is making the announcement at UCLA because he considers the
University of California to be a model system in this regard, The Times
reported. The UC system has never asked for information related to applicants’
criminal backgrounds, Stephen Handel, UC’s associate vice president of
undergraduate admissions, told the newspaper.
Handel said UC has no plans to ask for such information. Once students
are admitted, he said, specific campuses can ask for criminal histories on
housing application forms.
King is scheduled to be at UCLA today to take part in a roundtable
discussion on criminal justice reform efforts as they relate to college
campuses. He’ll be joined at the event by L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti and UCLA
Chancellor Gene Block.
Kim Hunter Reed, the U.S. deputy undersecretary of education, told The
Times that the government wants universities to ask themselves whether they
truly need applicants’ criminal histories, and if they decide they do, to delay
asking about that history until an applicant is further in the admission
process.
Though the federal government has no means of enforcing the proposal,
officials hope to influence universities to be more sensitive toward people who
have been in prison, according to The Times. The proposal follows other
attempts to keep people with criminal backgrounds from being permanently
stigmatized.
