ACLU questions new OSU policy requiring students to disclose past felony convictions

CORVALLIS, Ore. — David Rogers, the executive director of the ACLU of Oregon, told KATU the organization has "a lot of concerns" about a new policy at Oregon State University. The policy requires all continuing and future students to self-disclose any felony convictions and whether they're a registered sex offender before they enroll.

Steve Clark, OSU's vice president of university relations, said the policy was not prompted by revelations about star OSU pitcher Luke Heimlich.

Last year the Oregonian revealed Heimlich was a registered sex offender who was convicted of molesting a little girl when he was 15. Clark said Heimlich was rehabilitated and earned his place on the team, which he pitched for Friday in its first game of the season in Arizona.

Clark said the new policy was recommended by a task force put together last year in the wake of the report about Heimlich, which took disclosures about him into account. But he said the disclosures came up coincidentally.

"These policies are not about baseball matters or one individual," Clark told KATU on Friday. "The task force was created by OSU's president as an update of OSU’s admissions and attendance policies. We constantly review and update all of our policies. Last summer’s matter certainly informed the task force and it served as impetus for the review, which resulted in an affirmation of our educational mission for enrolling all qualified students, including those rehabilitated from past crimes, as well as our safety measures and our student support services."

Clark also said the policy is part of a continual effort over the last five years to provide for greater student success and safety.

When asked whether the school could look up criminal records of students on its own without requiring them to self-disclose, Clark said, "Frankly, no, because in some cases they’re sealed records if they involved a juvenile.”

Rogers voiced serious doubts about the policy.

"We think it's highly unlikely to translate into a safer campus, but what it probably will do is it's likely to ostracize and marginalize students with a criminal record," he said. “Young people in the juvenile system, their records are sealed and they’re sealed for a reason because we need to give people an opportunity to rebuild their lives.”

When asked if he thinks the policy will discourage people from attending the school Clark said, "That may happen. But we made a very conscious decision this is not about our public reputation. This is about our responsibility to educate, our responsibility to provide for public safety and our responsibility to provide for student success."

"How careful will the university be with those records?" Rogers asked. "Will that list of people that they're gonna be generating be open to public records requests?"

Clark insists the records will be kept private.

"They are confidential student records," he explained. "Federal law protects student records."

He also said students who disclose a felony conviction will have options and that the school will work with them.

"We will have that information go to a committee that will manage that information confidentially, will make a recommendation to our dean of student life, who will then determine what conditions, for example, may be applied to that student's participation at Oregon State as well as what support and services may be provided to that person," Clark told KATU.

He also said no one is required to self-report convictions in the admissions process.

“Agencies have said doing so in the admissions process is a chilling effect on individuals often among people of color to not apply for admission," Clark said.

But he admitted there could be serious repercussions for those who do not disclose prior to enrollment.

"Someone who does not disclose, and we are made aware of that, could be subject to sanctions including suspension or up to expulsion," said Clark.

“As a society, we all have an interest in increasing the number of people who attend and complete a university education," said Rogers. "And we’re concerned that this policy might be heading in the wrong direction.”

Clark said a number of safeguards were in place before the new policy was adopted. He said the university receives reports from Oregon State Police regarding registered sex offenders attending OSU and bars those students from living in residence halls or working with minors. He also said some university programs do not accept students with certain felony histories, such as counseling programs in the college of education and programs in the college of pharmacy.

Clark said university housing has about 5,000 beds total, most of them in residence halls. He said about 300 beds are in apartment-like settings where registered sex offenders are allowed to live.

When asked if Heimlich disclosed his 2012 conviction for molesting a child prior to his admission and enrollment, Clark sent KATU the following statement:

"Such information about a specific student is confidential and is protected by FERPA – federal student educational confidentiality laws.

I can tell you: all OSU students, including student-athletes, are subject to the same admissions standards, enrollment standards, codes of conduct, and requirements associated with staying in residence halls.

In the past, OSU has learned of students attending the university, who are registered sex offenders, from reports provided OSU by the Oregon State police and by students, who live in residence halls, disclosing that they are registered sex offenders. We do not allow registered sex offenders to live in a residence hall or work with minors."