The Daily Pennsylvanian :: Letter to the Editor

We have recently learned that we have two employees and one graduate student whose names appear on the Megan's Law list for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Megan's Law is a federal statute that requires persons convicted of a range of sexual offenses to register with the state police. Those persons who register are listed on a Web site which identifies offenders by name, address, and zip code.

We are currently reviewing the status of each of these individuals to determine the risks, if any, to the safety and security of our community. In the case of the graduate student, the judicial system of a neighboring county is also reviewing his status.

In each of these cases, we will conduct our review in a fair and rigorous manner. In accordance with law and principle, we will be scrupulously attentive to campus safety and security concerns while avoiding unwarranted stigmatization of former offenders. Accordingly, we will look at the relevant circumstances of each particular case carefully and thoroughly. We will ensure that the University officials charged with making these decisions are supported by the advice and counsel of the University's Division of Public Safety and of the Office of General Counsel. As an educational institution, these are not only our legal obligations, but our responsibilities as community leaders and educators.

Under the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, institutions of higher education are required to issue a statement advising the campus community where law enforcement agency information provided by a State concerning registered sex offenders may be obtained. The University, through its Division of Public Safety, has provided this information in its annual crime report.

The President has requested that we conduct a comprehensive and expeditious review of our policies and practices regarding employment and admission of past offenders to determine the need for any appropriate modifications of policies and practices. In discharging this task, we will, of course, welcome input from the University community. Once we have completed this review, we will share our recommendations to the President with the University community.

In closing, we wish to reiterate our commitment to providing a safe environment for our students, faculty and staff.

Ronald Daniels & Craig Carnaroli

The authors are the University Provost and Executive Vice President, respectively

Comments (8)

Dear "Philadelphia Resident", i love reading your comments because it is fun to break down stupid people such as yourself. The person who posted the comment you blasted never claimed that there are no rapists wherever he/she is from; rather, he/she stated that there are a lot of rapists in this area, which can be factually shown by the megan's law website. So your rebuttal to her comment is in fact irrelevant, regardless of your bitter attempt to guess where he/she is from. Additionally, why would you be so hateful towards a person whose intention is sympathetic to rape victims? I am excited for you to continue posting so you can continue representing your namesake constituency in an ever-embarrassing fashion. tootles

I find it disingenuous that the University shows all this interest in people who might be predators in the future (because of their past) but showed no interest in publicizing to its own alumni that the former director of the Penn Newman Center,(1985-1994) Father Jim Maguire, was appointed to come to Penn by the Archdioces the year the year it was disclosed he had a history of pedophilia. (See Philadelphia Inquirer, Sept. 25, 2005) Since Maguire's employment at Penn was not mentioned publicly in the papers (because no one had complained to the grand jury who could do the investigation), Penn, who has no legal liability in the matter, still preferred to keep things hush-hush rather than attempt to discover if, during those nine years, Penn students had also been harassed, molested or raped. It would appear that for Penn liability is the driving force,not moral responsibility.

[QUOTE id="5f6adc0d-82a1-420a-9986-4495a0e3562e"]damn there are alot of rapists in this area...watch your back ladies[/QUOTE] What a stupid comment. How about checking any neighborhood. How about checking even your own sheltered, sealed off gated community back in Oklahoma. Guess what - There's rapists there too.

damn there are alot of rapists in this area...watch your back ladies

Found all of them in a matter of minutes. And, yes, it is very scary what positions they hold. The university sure is getting some bad publicity over some poor hires. Background checks...??

Is it against the law to publish the names of the "two employees and one graduate student whose names appear on the Megan's Law list for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania"? I don't know if that would qualify as harassment, so I won't publish the list in my comments. But go to http://www.pameganslaw.state.pa.us and search for "19104" and you'll find them in about 5 minutes by comparing against the Penn directory. It's kind of creepy to see the jobs they have.

What "Philadelphia Resident" ignorantly misses here is that criminals who are sexual predatory in nature are especially prone to repeat offenses. It is entirely possible that those people listed on Megan's Law website will lead law-abiding lives for the rest of their days; however, it would be a disservice to the community to have one of these offenders strike again, and then have to turn around and tell the victim that we could've prevented your attack if we had done our due diligence. It's hardly a "holier than thou" argument, as i'm sure any community would feel entitled to the same protection.

What exactly is the point of this review? You are working to determine if these people pose a threat to the community? Isn't that exactly what the Megan's Law website is doing? This is another case of Penn students and faculty thinking they are above the law, or that they deserve more protection than the rest of society. These people on the Megan's Law website have paid their price to society already - by serving a jail sentence, paying a fine, etc. Now they are paying an even bigger price by having to have their face on that website for the rest of their lives. What more do you want them to do? Should people who commit crimes never be allowed back into society? Or, better yet, should they be allowed to function just like normal in society, as long as it's not your neighborhood - since you are a member of the elite. Right? Get in touch with reality and stop making too much of things. Everyone at Penn should be ashamed of their holier than thou approach to everything.

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