U. of Virginia Asks Students to Self-Report Arrests

The University of Virginia will require students this fall to voluntarily report if they have been arrested or convicted of a crime, according to an article in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The change, which toughens an existing policy, comes in response to the death last spring of Yeardley Love, a student, and the arrest on murder charges of George Huguely V, a fellow student whose previous arrest on charges of assaulting a police officer was not reported to university officials. John T. Casteen III, who recently retired as the university’s president, had suggested changing state law to require law-enforcement agencies to notify universities when a student is arrested. UVa’s new president, Teresa A. Sullivan, told reporters on Friday that she believed the self-reporting requirement would be more effective. Still, the policy presents “thorny” legal issues regarding safety and privacy, Carl W. Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, told the Times-Dispatch.