forwarded message
Maine Adult Corrections Education
For everyone's information....
From: Deborah Meehan [mailto:deborah...@maine.edu]
Sent: Monday, October 25, 2010 3:33 PM
To: Upham, Gary
Cc: elizabe...@juno.com; Beverly Bayer
Subject: UMS questions
Gary – Thank you for your help in getting this response back out to the MACE group. I am not able to import their addresses so I will count on you to forward this along quickly. Thank you. Deb
___________
This morning Gary Upham forwarded an email message to me that is circulating amongst the Maine Adult Corrections Education group regarding the University of Maine System’s handling of persons with a felony conviction. I am hoping to clarify the situation. I know this is a lot of information but please read on in hopes that you will understand the fairness with which UMS is trying to manage this process.
In late 2008, the UMS added the following question to its online and paper application (undergrad and graduate): “Have you ever been convicted of a misdemeanor, felony or other crime, or adjudicated of
committing a juvenile crime? Yes__ No__” .
Effective with Spring 2009 admissions, all students are asked to answer this question, and follow up is conducted on all. This language was added to bring applications in line with similar language on the Common Application and Universal Application (both of which UMS campuses accept) and to move in a direction replicated across the US.
With the addition of this language, the following process was put into place:
1. A Special Case Admission Review Committee, made up of UMS admissions officers, student judicial officers, student life deans, and police, was formed, representing all seven campuses plus the System Office and representative of a range of perspectives. They meet when necessary to review potential students who answer "yes" to the question above and who have submitted appropriate documentation to substantiate the identification of the misdemeanor or felony (in most cases, court documents; for incarcerated students who may have difficulty obtaining court documents, UMS asks for their commitment papers which they can obtain from the prison). ALL students who answer yes must go through this process.
2. The Committee's prime role is to ascertain whether there is any potential risk associated with the admission of a candidate. The focus is the potential for physical harm to a campus community. Ninety-nine percent of the cases reviewed move swiftly through the process (once the review committee has their documentation and no red flags pop up). In a small group of cases, UMS needs additional information. Since potential students give the UMS permission to obtain additional information via a release form they sign, the UMS gathers this information from a variety of sources, including probation officers, law enforcement specialists, administrators at other institutions, etc. The goal is not to deny applicants but rather to find any information that can help to move a potential student along to acceptance. There is a firm belief that higher education helps students achieve their goals and also helps students with troubled pasts move ahead and into a more positive situation in their lives.
3. The UMS will, and has had, cases where a student is denied based on what has been discovered about their past. Invariably, this denial will be for a certain duration, most likely a year, to enable the potential student to more clearly demonstrate that they are ready for the commitment and challenge of college. In very rare cases this may be of longer duration. This duration is made clear in their denial letter.
Please note that the UMS has denied a total of 5 potential students out of over 1500 since the process began in the spring of 2009.
Thank you for recognizing the complexities of this situation and the hard work on the part of UMS to be fair and open in this process.
Deborah Meehan
Director, University College at Rockland
91 Camden Street, Suite #402
Rockland, Maine 04841
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Susan Knight