Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

Background checks to be part of Iowa State U hiring process
By Rashah McChesney
Iowa State Daily, Iowa State U.
June 24, 2009

Beginning July 1, criminal history and credit checks will become an integral part of the Iowa State University hiring process.

Vicki Brubaker, associate director of human resource services, wrote in an e-mail that the reason the university was instituting a background-check policy was that it didn’t want to hire employees who could be a threat.

“We’re looking for qualified employees who will not pose risks of violence, theft or other damage to the university community,” she said.

Arnold van der Valk, president of the Faculty Senate and professor in ecology, evolution and organismal biology, said the senate considered the policy in 2008 and passed it, with some revision, during a meeting in November. He said he wasn’t the president when the policy was considered, but he was present for the meeting.

“The Faculty Senate passed the policy, and we are in agreement with the fact that, in some circumstances, background checks are needed,” he said. “Our only problem with the policy, when it first reached us, was that it seemed to be too far reaching.”

The original policy proposal included checks on graduate and post-graduate student employees, van der Valk said.

Brubaker said the current policy does not include post-doctoral, temporary or student employees in its scope.

Current employees will also be grandfathered in, as well as those who change positions, according to the policy.

In addition to the criminal background checks, there will also be credit history checks on certain employees.

“Those hired into administrative positions at the level of chair, director, dean or higher,” according to the policy. “Credit histories also are required for employees in certain positions that involve access to university funds, cash and financial assets or accounts.”

Van der Valk said there are several examples of universities across the nation dealing with employees who mishandle and embezzle money.

“When you’re hiring somebody to handle money and they have a bizarro credit rating, it doesn’t make any sense to hire them,” he said. “These checks are designed to look for whether a person is spending beyond their means and how they account for that.”

Brubaker said a poor credit history would not automatically bar someone from being employed, because there could be a number of reasons that a person would have poor credit or no credit.

“In certain positions it may be relevant that a person has a credit history that shows he/she is unable to manage their own finances,” she said.

There will be no centralized funding source for the background checks, which cost $53.20 per criminal history check and $7 per credit check. Instead, each department will pay for its own checks, Brubaker said.

Before this new policy was enacted there was no requirement for background checks.

“When there was a vacancy, the hiring department determined if a position’s duties and responsibilities warranted a criminal or credit background check,” Brubaker said.

A company called HireRight will be performing all the checks.

Arlo Meyer, assistant vice president for business services, said Iowa State was a member of a cooperative owned by more than 1,600 colleges, universities, K-12 hospitals, medical research institutions and hospital purchasing organizations that contracted out the background checks for the university, and HireRight was awarded the contract.

“When discussions were occurring at ISU about the possibility of utilizing background checks, we asked other universities about their experiences with organizations that perform background checks,” he wrote in an e-mail. “Many universities were using HireRight.. and were complimentary of their services.”

According to the policy, any information obtained through the background and credit checks that is used in a decision not to hire a potential employee will be provided to them.

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