The faculty senate of the University of Akron gathered on Thursday, November 5th to discuss the future of their newly proposed background policy that included a provision requiring submission of one’s DNA as a part of the process.
Following the proceedings, Akron University reached a decision to remove the DNA requirement from the revised background screening policy set to go into effect November 21st. The University of Akron’s media relations specialist Laura Massie explained that the intentions behind the policy were to prepare the institution for the expected direction background screening standards will surely take over the course of the next few decades.
The policy had drawn intense criticism from University faculty members, the local branch of American Association of University Professors and from the ACLU on grounds that it violated the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination act (GINA). In fact, one of the university’s lecturers resigned mid semester in protest.
The DNA testing would have been applied to prospective members of the permanent faculty and administrative support staff, as well as any contracted workers performing work on campus grounds.
