Fairness, Equity, and Inclusion: A Social Constructionist Approach to Admissions Prior Conduct Policies and Procedures

This quantitative study explores the topic of Admissions Prior Conduct policies and procedures at 100 public institutions of higher education across the United States. The term Admissions Prior Conduct is used in this study when referencing criminal justice and/or institutional misconduct questions and the policies and procedures used to review the required applicant disclosures. Over time, these policies and procedures have been developed to serve as barriers to those applicants who have disclosures under the pretext of ensuring the safety of the already established campus community. The purpose of this study is to analyze these policies and procedures regarding their fairness, equity, and inclusivity. Through the usage of the Delphi method, this study developed a new measurement with 29 total parameters to use when analyzing these institutional policies and procedures. Following the usage of this measurement by the researcher as well as a second scorer, it was determined that the vast majority of the institutional policies and procedures reviewed across 36 different states would not be considered fair, equitable, or inclusive. The main takeaway from this research is that the reviewed policies and procedures, in their current state, lack being fair, equitable, or inclusive.<p></p>