Has your professor murdered anyone?

A state representative is working on legislation that would require all colleges and… A state representative is working on legislation that would require all colleges and universities in Pennsylvania to do criminal background checks on any new faculty or staff before hiring them.

State Rep. Matthew Baker, R-Tioga, is drafting the legislation in light of last summer’s revelation concerning Paul E. Kreuger, a former professor at Pennsylvania State University. Kreuger had been convicted of a triple murder in Texas almost 40 years ago and was paroled in the late 1970s.

Kreuger, who wasn’t required to undergo a background check prior to his employment at Penn State, left in August amid controversy. Penn State has since instituted background checks on all applicants.

The law is a terrible idea and an unnecessary intrusion into the lives of potential hires, not to mention a terrific waste of money.

If Kreuger were such a menace to society, he would not have been paroled. He committed a crime, served his time, and was found competent to re-enter society. Part of his re-entry was earning his bachelors’ and masters’ degrees, and contributing to the higher education system — certainly bettering himself in the process.

Baker compares college teachers to daycare workers and elementary school teachers, noting that, in Pennsylvania, background checks are required of all teachers in school districts. This is a comparison that is as insulting as it is inaccurate.

Being a daycare worker or schoolteacher implies a far greater degree of responsibility for the lives of their young charges, and it is right to require background checks on them. Daycare workers spend as many as eight hours a day with their children, and they can have a profound effect on shaping the child’s values.

College teachers, on the other hand, might spend as many as five hours a week with adults in a non-custodial setting. College students, for the most part, are older than 18, and are thus considered to be adults — a very different situation than being a child in daycare.

The proposed legislation displays a profound disrespect for the decision of the parole board that set Krueger free before many of his students had been born. It also effectively turns any sentence into a life sentence — background checks ensure past mistakes will follow people around forever. Let colleges make this paternalistic ruling on their own, if they must, but don’t mandate it statewide.