The State System of Higher Education said Wednesday it is resuming criminal background checks on those faculty at its 14 state-owned universities who are covered by a Commonwealth Court judge's order partially reinstating the program.
System spokesman Kenn Marshall could not say what number of system’s 6,000 faculty are affected by Senior Judge Dan Pellegrini's order, which was issued last week and specified faculty who teach freshman-level courses and some library faculty.
The Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties, which is asking the state Supreme Court for relief from that order, said it applies to 95 percent of its membership.
The checks are part of a wider State System-developed policy mandating criminal and child abuse clearances for all workers at the system headquarters and at the 14 universities, including California, Clarion, Edinboro, Indiana and Slippery Rock in western Pennsylvania.
System officials say their goal is keeping minors safe. But APSCUF, which in September obtained an court injunction halting the program, said the policy exceeds what child protection laws require and is a waste of public funds since a very small number of professors work with minors.
It says the system must negotiate with APSCUF before requiring checks on individuals who are not subject to them by law.
Judge Pellegrini’s Jan. 13 ruling will not apply to all campus faculty -- at least until an arbitration or other decision is made by the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board “determining whether background checks where not required by law is managerial right,” the order states.
Specifically, the order directs that any employee teaching a freshman-level course or its equivalent must be checked. The judge also said the checks apply to library faculty at Bloomsburg, California, Clarion, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown and Shippensburg universities.
The order did not address why library faculty at only those campuses are covered. Mr. Marshall said he did not know the reason, nor did Kathryn Morton, an APSCUF spokeswoman.
The judge said that unless agreed to in advance by the parties, non-matriculated minors may not enroll in an upper-level course unless it is taught by an employee who has undergone the checks.
“We are committed to fulfilling the court ruling, which partially reinstates the Board of Governors’ effort to comply with both state law and the board’s policy to help ensure protection of hundreds of minors who take courses on our campuses each year,” a statement issued by Mr. Marshall said. “We are disappointed that APSCUF’s leadership continues to oppose the board’s overall effort.”
APSCUF, in a statement quoting its president Kenneth Mash, said the system continues to press a policy whose reach is not supported by law since it covers faculty regardless of whether they will ever have direct contact with minors.
”Requiring such unnecessary background checks without negotiations is not only an unfair labor practice, it is an unwise use of funds at a time when the universities are facing major budgetary shortfalls,“ the statement read.
The law at the center in the dispute is Pennsylvania’s Child Protective Services Law.
As amended in July, it exempts employees on college campuses from background checks if their direct contact with children under 18 is limited to “matriculated students enrolled with the institution” and “prospective students visiting a campus,” according to APSCUF court petition seeking the injunction.
The effect is that nearly all of APSCUF’s members are exempt, APSCUF asserts, since “the ’children’ with whom faculty members routinely have contact are matriculated students.”
The State System policy was developed before the law change, but officials said it nevertheless has merit and they stand by it.
Bill Schackner: bschackner@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1977 and on Twitter: @BschacknerPG.
First Published: January 21, 2016, 5:00 a.m.
