Policy for Admissions Review Involving Prior Convictions, Pending Criminal Charges, and Prior Suspensions/Dismissals

St. John Fisher College recognizes its role in maintaining a safe community for its students and College employees. As part of this effort, applicants for admission to the College (undergraduate or graduate) are required to disclose any prior criminal convictions or pending criminal charges (felony or misdemeanor, with the exception of any proceedings involving “youthful offender adjudication” as defined in NYS Criminal procedure Law Section 720.35 or any conviction sealed pursuant to NYS Criminal procedure Law Sections 160.55 or 160.58) as well as any past disciplinary suspensions or dismissals from higher educational institutions. Additional review may be required for those applicants seeking admission to programs in the Wegmans School of Nursing, the Wegmans School of Pharmacy, or the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. School of Education.

Prior criminal or disciplinary actions are not an automatic bar to admission. The College recognizes that automatically depriving past offenders of an education may not be in the best interest of the individual, the educational mission of the College, or society at large. However, this recognition must be balanced against the College’s need to carefully evaluate and determine the possibility that admission or presence of the student on campus poses an undue risk to the safety, security or welfare of the College or the College community, or is otherwise, on balance, not in the College Community’s best interest. While the Committee will exercise its judgment in a thoughtful, rational manner, in the end, the decision of the Committee as to whether or not to recommend admission is in the Committee’s absolute and sole discretion.

In all cases in which an applicant to the College has a criminal conviction, pending criminal charges, or has been suspended or expelled from an institute of higher education, additional information will be requested and reviewed by the Admissions Special Review committee.

Continued Self-Disclosure

After being admitted and prior to matriculation, any pending charges in any state or country or the conviction of a crime (felony or misdemeanor, with the exception of any proceedings involving “youthful offender adjudication” as defined in NYS Criminal procedure Law Section 720.35 or any conviction sealed pursuant to NYS Criminal procedure Law Sections 160.55 or 160.58) must be reported to the College. This requirement continues throughout the period of enrollment at St. John Fisher College (including between semesters).

Penalty for Failure to Self Disclose

Failure of the applicant to self-disclose criminal convictions, pending charges or suspensions/dismissals from a higher educational institution on the admissions application or during any period of enrollment (including between semesters) is a falsification of the record. Upon discovery of such failure to report, the following actions will take place:

• If the applicant is not yet enrolled, the offer of admission to the College may be rescinded;
• If enrolled, the student will be subject to the student conduct process which may include an interim student conduct action and other penalties up to and including expulsion.