Dear Colleagues,

Earlier this month, the University of Illinois Board of Trustees approved a policy requiring criminal background checks for new hires, to take effect on Oct. 5. Last week, our Academic Senate passed a resolution urging a delay in implementation of the policy.

U of I President Timothy Killeen conferred with the Board chair and trustees who chair the Board governance and academic affairs committees. On Friday, President Killeen notified the campus that he and the Board leadership agreed to extend the implementation deadline for the Urbana campus to Nov. 1. During this period, the Office of the Provost and the Senate Executive Committee will work together to ensure our background check implementation procedures will be fair and nondiscriminatory to applicants while protecting the safety of our students and employees. Going forward, we will be monitoring our implementation closely and assessing its impact on our hiring.

Please note that during the four-week period, subject to very limited exceptions, hires cannot be finalized on the Urbana campus unless a background check is conducted. If your unit has questions about the policy, please contact Elyne Cole in the Office of the Provost at 333-6677 or Deb Stone in Academic Human Resources at 333-7466. If you have questions about a specific position or search, please contact Yulee Kim in Academic Human Resources at 333-6747 or Chris Carr in Staff Human Resources at 333-2137.

In the meantime, Vice President for Academic Affairs Christophe Pierre will chair an ad hoc group with employees from all three campuses to review the policy and suggest potential revisions that could be recommended to the Board for consideration.

We want to thank the Board and President Killeen for responding to the Academic Senate in a manner that supports shared governance, and we thank the Senate Executive Committee in advance for collaborating with us to complete this work in time for the Nov. 1 implementation.

Sincerely,

Barbara J. Wilson, Interim Chancellor

Edward Feser, Interim Provost