On Aug. 26, James Childress, 29, was charged with disorderly conduct for making a bomb threat, a felony, against Concordia University Chicago (CUC) in River Forest. Childress was upset that his application for enrollment in the university had been rejected.
Upon reading the news report about Childress one would assume, that if convicted, Childress had just ruined his life, destroying any change of admission to any university or collage and severely dampening his chance of getting a good job if any job at all.
Almost all college and university applications include the question, “Have you ever been convicted of a crime?” If the answer to that question is “yes” the next question asks for a description the crime. Answering yes and explaining that the crime was making a bomb threat against a university would most likely eliminate any chance of acceptance. Would a convicted felon lie on an application?
A quick internet search finds that while some universities do background checks on prospective students, many simply accept the word of the applicant. What about CUC? A request for an interview, to ask the specific question, “does CUC do background checks on prospective students?” was denied. Senior Assistant Director of Admissions at CUC, Josh Davis, after checking with his supervisor, said, “I’m sorry but I cannot answer questions about our admission policy.” So, do you know who is sitting next to you at your university?
We want to hear your opinion on how you feel about this?
