UNC Studying Background Checks
by Courtney Robinson

The recent ban of a UNC-Wilmington junior is re-igniting talks about criminal background checks in the UNC system. Margaret Gross said the idea of criminals on campus is a little unsettling.
“It’s scary,” said Gross. “If it’s happening there, it’s probably happening here too. It’s a little scary.”

A safety task force charged with looking into admission guidelines convened after two UNC-W female students were killed by male students last spring. Steve Farmer, the University’s director of admissions, thought what happened in Wilmington was disturbing.

“What happened in Wilmington--both of those events were horrible and almost beyond imagination,” said Farmer. “That grief on that campus was real and it persists and is still there.”

Farmer, who chaired the safety task force, said 100 percent background checks of all applicants isn’t realistic.

”It just seemed not to be a wise use of the University’s resources, and it didn’t seem, in the end, a particularly promising way of promoting safety,” he said.

While what happened at UNC-W is unsettling to students here at UNC-CH, most students still feel safe. But Farmer warned students should still be aware.

“It’s really important for students to take charge of the situation themselves--not to do things that are dangerous, not to put themselves in situations where something bad might happen,” said Farmer.

The taskforce has been disbanded, but administrators are making efforts to implement those guidelines. Farmer added that out of almost 150,000 students in the UNC system, about 220 of them committed crimes. Out of that number a few had previous history of crime and even fewer had lied on their applications. He says 99.9 percent of the time students are honest when it comes to applications.