Kansas Board of Regents

State sex offender registries list people who have been convicted of sex crimes for all the public to see online.

But what about the many college students found responsible for sexual assault by internal university investigations, whose cases never see a court of law? At most Kansas universities, students disciplined for sexual assault can transfer to other schools with no flag on their records indicating a problem with past conduct.

The Kansas Board of Regents may soon change that.

The Regents Council of Presidents — made up of leaders of the six state universities — plans to discuss on Wednesday a proposal that would require all universities to add a transcript notation if a student is expelled for sexual assault.

University presidents have “confidently” agreed that they want such a requirement, Regents spokeswoman Breeze Richardson said. The next step is figuring out details.

“What does it look like?” Richardson said. “How far does the board feel like it’s appropriate to go?”

The policy will likely go to the Regents Governance Committee in January and, if approved there, be forwarded to the full Board of Regents for a vote, Richardson said.

Richardson said two state universities — Kansas University and Kansas State University — already add transcript notations when students are expelled for nonacademic misconduct.

A Regents policy would require that all state schools do it, and would create consistency within the system.

“There’s value, I think everybody agrees, in that not wildly differing between universities,” she said.

Student initiated

The Council of Presidents discussion follows months of work by students at KU and other state schools.

Emma Halling, a 2015 KU graduate now attending the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, was one leader. Halling, former KU student body vice president, served on KU’s Sexual Assault Task Force and wrote her honors thesis on the subject of nonacademic transcript notations for sexual assault cases.

The draft policy to be discussed by Regents university presidents still isn’t public.

Halling said she hopes a Regents policy will mirror — and go even further than — what the KU Student Senate suggested in a resolution last spring, which is nonacademic misconduct transcript notations for expulsions and suspensions due to sexual misconduct.

“I think it should be any finding or responsibility for nonacademic misconduct,” Halling said. “I would encourage Regents to also include some sort of notation if a student left a school while a hearing is pending — a lot of times they don’t stick around for the end result.”

Halling, citing a national Washington Post investigation, said only 12 percent of students found responsible for sexual assault are actually expelled. Most are punished in other ways, including suspension, counseling and community service.

Even if the transcript notation does not specify what type of academic misconduct the discipline was for, federal law allows university officials to share the final results of student conduct hearings and what the student was found responsible for, Halling said. Then the admitting school can decide whether to admit or not.

Halling said she also supports requiring students to disclose on college admission applications their criminal histories and whether they’ve been disciplined for nonacademic misconduct.

Controversial issue

The issue of nonacademic misconduct on transcripts is not without controversy.

A few states have passed state legislation mandating nonacademic transcript notations for college students suspended or dismissed for sexual assault.

Earlier this year Virginia and then New York passed laws requiring public and private schools statewide to note on students’ transcripts if they are “expelled after a finding of responsibility for a code of conduct violation,” according to a July Inside Higher Ed article.

“In other states, the requirement has met resistance, fueled by concerns that such notations would turn academic transcripts into an internal sex offender registry for colleges,” according to the article. In turn, that ” would necessitate turning college disciplinary proceedings into fully litigated trials.”

Those arguing for nonacademic transcript notations often cite the case of Jesse Matthew Jr., who was accused of sexual assault as a student athlete at two Virginia colleges, leaving both following the allegations. He’s since been convicted of sexually assaulting a Fairfax, Va., woman and is currently facing trials in the murders of Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington and University of Virginia student Hannah Graham.

In another cited case, a University of Oregon woman sued the school because a basketball player she said sexually assaulted her was previously disciplined for sexual assault at the school he transferred from. The basketball player has since transferred to another school. No criminal charges were filed in that case, and the player has now sued University of Oregon for failing to provide him due process in their sexual assault investigation.

Halling said one concern about transcript notations is that the same injustices could be faced in the university adjudication process as are found in the criminal justice system, such as minorities or students who can’t afford lawyers being prosecuted or found responsible at higher rates.

“So that’s a problem,” she said. “But I don’t think that’s reason to throw the baby out with the bath water and just not inform anyone.”