” A controversial policy at the University of Akron might be discussed at today’s Faculty Senate meeting, according to Stephen Aby, a member of the chapter executive committee of the American Association of University Professors. The new policy, which states that the university reserves the right to require DNA testing from potential employees, has grabbed the attention of media and organizations around the nation following the unexpected resignation of a professor.”
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A controversial policy at the University of Akron might be discussed at today’s Faculty Senate meeting, according to Stephen Aby, a member of the chapter executive committee of the American Association of University Professors.

The new policy, which states that the university reserves the right to require DNA testing from potential employees, has grabbed the attention of media and organizations around the nation following the unexpected resignation of a professor.

The meeting will be held at 3 p.m. in room 201 of Buckingham.

Aby has read various local and national articles and blogs regarding the policy and AAUP has posted the links to several of them on its Web site, www.aaup.org.

I’m not a lawyer, so I can’t really render a legal opinion on it, but I can tell you what the AAUP’s problem is with the policy, he said.

He said that AAUP believes the policy is disproportional and inappropriate.

I think that’s the core of their position on background checks. Any check should be proportional to the responsibility of the person doing the work, he said.

He explained that if someone worked in a daycare center with children or with nuclear materials, for example, then there would be a reason to test them in such a way.

The fact that the university has this on the books gives them sole discretion to apply it to anybody under any circumstance they choose. We find that alarming, he said.

Aby said the policy seems invasive and intrusive and noted that AAUP found this alarming enough to post it on their Web site. He added that it has gone beyond the local chapter and reached the national AAUP.

They might say that they don’t intend to use it… but the policy gives them sole discretion. That’s the key concept here, Aby said.

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