Friday, January 21, 2011

N.C. community colleges may bar admission to students who seem threatening

North Carolina's community college board is considering whether to allow schools to bar admission to students who appear to pose a threat, reports Emery P. Dalesio for The Associated Press. The new admission policy has been in the works since August and was a result of the shootings by a student at Virginia Tech in 2007. It has taken on new urgency since the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords by suspect Jared Loughner, a former Arizona community college student. North Carolina's community college system is one of the largest in the U.S. The state has a community college in most of its counties.

The current policy for the 17-campus University of North Carolina system does not bar people who present possible health or safety threats, writes Dalesio. How admissions officers could screen potential applicants among the more than 800,000 students statewide isn't clear. "There may be the tell-tale sign that an admissions person might recognize that this person might be a threat to that campus," said Stephen Scott, president of Wake Technical Community College in Raleigh. Community colleges are a major factor in rural areas.

Disabilities advocates and the American Civil Liberties Union are concerned the lack of clarity in the policy could open the door to discrimination against "people who are not a danger because they make people or they make administrators uncomfortable," said Sarah Preston of the ACLU. Preston cites those who suffer from HIV/AIDS as a potential example. (Read more)

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