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发帖数: 19398 | 1 http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/06/fair-chance-education-pledge/486518/
A new White House initiative asks colleges to look past criminal records,
removing an obstacle to higher education.
The White House and Department of Education plan to ask American colleges
and universities to reconsider using a person’s criminal history as part of
the admissions process, opening access to higher education for millions.
The announcement will be made on Friday, following a meeting with presidents
, deans, provosts and other representatives from institutions who have
already taken the Fair Chance Education Pledge, as the initiative is called.
“This is about persuading institutions to do the right thing with respect
to how they admit their students,” Secretary of Education John King said.
“This effort is about removing arbitrary obstacles.” The initiative
follows an Atlantic report in April on how admissions procedures targeting
students with criminal histories can constrict educational opportunity.
Next America: Criminal Justice
Crime and punishment in the age of mass incarceration
Read more
“Our goal here is to ensure that when people are released they have an
opportunity to live a law-abiding life, that they have all the tools they
need in order to thrive once they are released,” said Valerie Jarrett,
senior adviser to the president. In one survey, 35 percent of the
institutions of higher-education that responded said they had denied
applicants based on their criminal history.
King anticipates that the pledge, if implemented with some dexterity, would
especially impact people of color. “We know that African American and
Latino young people and adults are overrepresented in our prison population
and among folks who have criminal records. I think this will help those who
have a criminal record have an opportunity to access higher education.”
But the pledge does not mention what some advocates identify as the primary
deterrent to higher education: questions about a person’s criminal history
during the application process. The Obama administration seems aware of this
fact. “If that’s the first question, oftentimes, people shy away from
going any further,” Jarrett said. The pledge asks schools to reiterate
their general commitment to creating opportunity for all students while
paying some attention to returning citizens.
We applaud the growing number of public and private colleges and
universities nationwide who are taking action to ensure that all Americans
have the opportunity to succeed, including individuals who have had contact
with the criminal justice system. When an estimated 70 million or more
Americans—nearly one in three adults—have a criminal record, it is
important to remove unnecessary barriers that may prevent these individuals
from gaining access to education and training that can be so critical to
career success and lead to a fulfilled and productive life. We are committed
to providing individuals with criminal records, including formerly
incarcerated individuals, a fair chance to seek a higher education to obtain
the knowledge and skills needed to contribute to our Nation’s growing
economy.
Each pledging institution will craft an individualized plan that reflects
their own approach to reaching the goal of expanding access. Some leading
public and private universities have already signed on, including Auburn
University, Boston University, the City University of New York, Columbia
University, Cornell University, Eastern University, Howard University, New
York University, North Park University, Rutgers University, the State
University of New York, University of Pittsburgh, and the University of
Washington.
Early adoption by SUNY will likely be seen as a symbolic victory by
advocates who argue a person’s criminal history is not relevant in
evaluating their academic potential. The state system is the subject of an
authoritative study on the impact of such practices on potential applicants,
and it also has a separate application process for people with felony
convictions. The report concluded that over 62 percent of applicants with
prior convictions who began the SUNY application process never completed it,
compared to 21 percent of those with none.
“The pledge is part of a larger effort to engage higher education as a
partner in undoing the negative effects of mass incarceration,” King said.
He mentioned that earlier in the year, the Department of Education had
engaged with an important player in college admissions. “We’ve had a
series of conversations with the folks who are responsible for the Common
App. They’ve narrowed the scope of the question around criminal records.
They removed a portion of the question that asked about other convictions or
other criminal conduct, or some other quite ambiguous phrase and they’ve
committed to narrowing the question,” he said. This year, the question read:
Have you ever been adjudicated guilty or convicted of a misdemeanor, felony,
or other crime? Note that you are not required to answer “yes” to this
question, or provide an explanation, if the criminal adjudication or
conviction has been expunged, sealed, annulled, pardoned, destroyed, erased,
impounded, or otherwise required by law or ordered by a court to be
confidential.
A change to the wording that results in fewer students being discouraged
from applying would be particularly significant given that 700 colleges and
universities will use the universal application during the next admissions
cycle. During the last cycle, over four million applications were filed
using the online tool. King was not certain during which admissions cycle
the changes would be included. “They’ve committed to review their policies
and review potential further steps with their members,” he said.
“If we do criminal justice reform only by doing sentencing reform, we will
not have done enough.”
One of the challenges facing campuses that want to be more flexible in their
admissions policies is pressure from parents who are not willing to
compromise the security of the campuses their children attend. But there is
no statistical correlation between violence, crime, or security on a college
campus and the presence of students who have been justice-involved. Jarrett
highlighted the case of the University of California, the largest education
system in the country, and now run by former Secretary of Homeland Security
Janet Napolitano, which abolished the criminal-justice inquiry from its
admissions process. “She was a great validator when she said that they have
always had people who were previously incarcerated in the UC system and the
safety and security of the campuses, which is her top priority, have not
been detrimentally impacted by this practice.” Cognizant of the potential
pushback, Jarrett underlined that the idea is “to give people a second
chance where it’s warranted.”
As part of its “Beyond the Box” effort to raise awareness and inspire
action on the issue, King’s team put together a list of “Ways to Take
Action” for those interested in taking the pledge, including narrowing or
eliminating questions about an applicant’s criminal background, training
staff on how to understand and use the information when relevant, and
providing multiple types of academic and social support once students enroll
. “There’s not necessarily a single solution, we want universities to be
thoughtful,” King said.
Some of the suggested actions are premised on students self-identifying as
being justice-involved to other people on campus, which raises some privacy
and security concerns, related to the stigma that may follow a student.
Jarrett acknowledged the concern. “We have been exploring ways to put the
spotlight on our criminal justice system’s need for reform in order to de-
stigmatize incarceration in our culture, generally,” she said.
To fully grasp the potential impact of such changes, long-term studies will
have to be undertaken, but the administration does not plan to include any
such effort in their rollout or recommendations. Jarrett, however, did
signal that efforts from other players would be welcome. “There’s a high
level of interest in the philanthropic community to support these kinds of
initiatives,” she said. “The administration would welcome the
collaboration of the nonprofit sector in evaluating the effectiveness of
this and related efforts.”
If King seems to have a soft spot for those who might be positively impacted
by colleges changing their policies on criminal histories, it’s because he
understands about rebounding from personal struggles. “Certainly, I have a
very strong belief in second chances because of my own personal experience.
After I got kicked out of high school, folks could have given up on me,
could have looked at me as an African American and Latino student with a
family in crisis who’s gotten kicked out of high school. What chance does
he have? But they didn’t. They gave me a second chance to choose a
different path in life.”
King’s mother passed away from a heart attack when he was eight and in the
fourth grade. His father suffered from undiagnosed Alzheimer’s until he
passed away when King was 12. Through that very difficult period, he lived
with family and later with a slightly older brother who was struggling with
alcoholism. “As a teenager I was angry and hurt and didn’t necessarily
have good ways to process those emotions, and got into a lot of trouble in
high school.” He thought he’d escaped to the prestigious Phillips Academy
in Andover, Massachusetts, but instead was unable to adhere to the myriad
rules imposed on students, leading to his eventual expulsion. He returned
home and an uncle—who’d built a career in the Air Force, as a Tuskegee
Airman—challenged him to take responsibility for his life.
“He told me not to let my future be defined by my past. That’s what this
second-chance work is about,” King said. “To make sure we give folks
access to education and job-training opportunities.” One of the
complicating factors on the road to education, job training, and potential
careers for those who have had lasting interactions with the criminal
justice system is that thousands of regulations bar them from joining entire
professions and specialized fields.
“We found that across America many states have general prohibitions against
people, particularly those convicted of a felony, without any regard to
whether that makes sense for that particular occupation. There’s a
disconnect here,” Jarrett said. “There are some instances in which, due to
the crime you have committed, it may be appropriate to restrict your
licensing. But there are very many in which it doesn’t make sense at all.
We want to make sure we’re being strategic about restrictions on licensing.”
“If we do criminal justice reform only by doing sentencing reform, we will
not have done enough. We’ve got to couple that with investments in
education and job training and clearing away barriers to meaningful second
chances,” King said.
So Friday’s announcement is just a first step toward giving people with
criminal records a chance to reintegrate into society. But for the millions
who want to obtain the education they’ll need to succeed, and are presently
discouraged from doing so, it’s a very important step forward.
This article is part of our Next America: Criminal Justice project, which is
supported by a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. |
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