The University Senate discussed a proposal that would require potential faculty members to undergo criminal background checks at its meeting on Wednesday.

Syracuse University currently conducts criminal background checks for staff, but not for faculty.

Thomas Perrault, chair of the Senate’s Committee on Academic Freedom, Tenure and Professional Ethics, presented the proposal. Perrault said having a clear and transparent hiring process with faculty oversight and comment is imperative.

Several universities, including some of SU’s peer institutions, have criminal background checks for faculty hires in place, Perrault said.

Senators asked Perrault about the specifics of the possible plan, but Perrault was unable to detail them because there was no policy written. Margaret Thompson, an associate professor of history and political science, asked whether the type of crime the potential hire was convicted for would be taken into consideration. Perrault said the committee has raised that question, but it is impossible to comment without a policy written out.

“We’re not necessarily endorsing it, but it does bring faculty in line with what’s been going on with staff already,” Perrault said.

Tina Nabatchi, a professor of public administration and international affairs, asked what problem requiring criminal background checks would solve. In response, Chancellor Kent Syverud referenced a policy the Senate passed banning consensual sexual relationships between undergraduate students and faculty.

“There is a concern that, as we hire new faculty, we should have some concern for our students,” Syverud said.

Syverud said the university should be worried about faculty being fired from one university for misconduct, especially relating to students, only to be hired by a different university.

Nabatchi argued that faculty members shifted around quietly would most likely not have a criminal record, so they would not come up on background checks.

She also questioned SU officials on problems with employee tax forms at the meeting. Nabatchi said faculty members on a 12-month pay option, versus a nine-month option that omits summer months, have seen irregularities in their W-2 tax forms.

Changes in the payroll calculation and disbursing system in the middle of 2018 led to dramatic differences in 2017’s and 2018’s taxable social security wages, Nabatchisaid.

SU has hosted information sessions to explain changes to payroll, Nabatchi said. She said the sessions have been helpful, but this is not the first instance of issues with personnel systems.

Nabatchi said SU’s payroll office implemented a new system last year without testing it, resulting in employees receiving incorrect wages for months on end and only being informed by their college’s budget managers that they were being paid incorrectly. She called on SU administrators to address issues with personnel systems.

“We are seeing a continuing pattern of practice and behaviors from our personnel systems that are distressing at the least, and quite frankly, disloyal at the worst,” Nabatchi said.

She said she was not complaining about the changes themselves, but rather how the changes were made without consultation from the people the policies affect.

Jean Gallipeau, SU’s comptroller, apologized for a lack of communication over the summer. She said her department has been working to meet with faculty members and provide answers to FAQs to help people better understand the program.

Syverud and Michele Wheatly, vice chancellor and provost, also gave updates on searches for multiple SU leadership positions. Syverud said he has met with the committee and finalists in the search for a chief diversity officer.

The search committee for the School of Information Studies dean has interviewed multiple people and is inviting three candidates to visit the campus in mid-April, Wheatly also said. She expects the search to come to a conclusion at the end of the academic year, she added.

Wheatly said the first round interviews for the dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science will begin in coming weeks.

Other business

• A second ICE Box will be built on Hinds Hall’s second floor, Wheatly said. Renovations will begin in June, she said.
• The university’s budget will go before the Board of Trustees for approval at the May board meeting, Syverud said. The budget prioritizes undergraduate financial aid, which is supposed to increase by nine percent, he said.
• Last year, first- to second-year retention rate fell from 91.4% to 89.6%, Wheatly said, and SU initiated an outreach program for first-year students who have not registered for classes within two weeks of the normal registration period.

Published on April 10, 2019 at 11:52 pm

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