Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

Criminal history question added to Syracuse job applications
By Ethan Rothschild
Daily Orange (Syracuse)
03/22/2007

(U-WIRE) SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A question about criminal records will be added to the Common App, the widely-used college application, as part of the 2006-2007 admissions cycle.

Syracuse University and many other schools have had similar questions on their applications for a long time. The question was added because schools that accept the Common App have been requesting it, anyway, said Susan Donovan, dean of admissions at SU.

"We have been asking disciplinary questions for years," she said. "We are concerned about disciplinary issues, as they relate to good character. Students come to the university not only for academics, but as citizens of a community."

The new question will ask whether or not the student has been found responsible for a violation at any secondary school that resulted in the student's suspension, removal or expulsion from the school, according to the Common App's Web site. Additionally, the application will ask whether or not the student has been convicted of a misdemeanor or felony.

Applicants will have the opportunity to answer each question with a "yes" or "no." If "yes," the Common App then asks the applicant to attach a separate sheet with an explanation of the crime.

To stop applicants from cheating the system, the same question has to be answered by a high school counselor.

SU, which accepts the Common App, similarly asks on its own application: "Have you ever been dismissed, suspended, placed on probation or required to leave school for any period of time? Have you ever been convicted of a crime?"

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