Fingerprinting and Background Check Bill
By Katie Cline

Schools in the UNC system might have an extra step in their application process next year.

A proposed bill in the State Senate would require fingerprinting and a background check before students can enroll in one of the 16 state universities. The increased security concerns follow the murders of two young women at UNC-Wilmington. Fellow students are charged in those deaths.

But UNC-Chapel Hill Student Body President James Allred said checks aren’t needed for students who’ve already agreed to the honor code.

“This system is treating students like criminals before they come in, subjecting them to fingerprinting and background checks, and it just makes the assumption that students are breaking the law when they have already committed to upholding it,” Allred said.

The UNC system rejected a similar proposal last year partly because of the cost. In the Senate’s proposed bill, students could be the one’s paying to get fingerprinted.