Union Theological Seminary in New York City will no longer ask applicants to check a box indicating whether they have a criminal history, reports TheBlaze.
Union also signed onto the White House’s “Fair Chance Pledge,” which encourages businesses and schools to eliminate unnecessary barriers to people with criminal records. Many of the other institutions who have signed on have similarly “banned the box” on their applications.
“In accepting the White House’s Fair Chance in Higher Education Pledge, we are calling on all sister theological institutions across the nation to do the same,” Union Theological Seminary said in a statement to media. “Not only is this decision morally right and deeply faithful to our many traditions, it is sound public policy.”
The school’s president, the Rev. Dr. Serene Jones, is also planning to ask that members of the American Academy of Religion, which she also heads, join Union Theological Seminary in taking this same stand.
“Union Theological Seminary commits itself and calls upon its sister theological institutions to create highways of opportunity and welcoming communities for our formerly incarcerated brothers and sisters,” the statement continued.
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