All matriculating School of Pharmacy and Health Professions students are required to submit to a criminal background check upon accepting an offer of admission.  Students are required to disclose any potentially problematic issues on their application form, and/or to Admission or Academic Affairs administrators before they matriculate.  Students whose criminal background check identifies a pending charge or a conviction of a misdemeanor or felony offense (excluding misdemeanor traffic violations) risk not being allowed to continue in their program of study.  This risk is lower if school administrators are aware of the issues before the official criminal background report is received. 

Students with positive criminal backgrounds should recognize that, if they are allowed to continue in their program of study, their history may delay their progression through the program and/or negatively impact their ability to be licensed to practice by state boards once they graduate.

The status of all matriculated students with a positive criminal background will be reviewed by the Assistant/Associate Dean in the Office of Academic and Student Affairs, who may employ the services of an advisory board to assist in decision-making.  To continue in their program of study, students so reviewed must follow all requirements set forth by the Assistant/Associate Dean in the Office of Academic and Student Affairs and sign a statement acknowledging the potential negative impact of their background on academic progression and eligibility for licensure.  The appropriate Director of Experiential Education and academic advisor will be copied on the correspondence sent to the student by the Assistant/Associate Dean in the Office of Academic and Student Affairs related to the criminal background violations, and will be kept informed of the student’s situation and the action plan.

The school reserves the right to conduct additional criminal background checks and drug tests on students prior to engaging in experiential education activities, including clinical rotations.  These checks are often required by the clinical sites that educate health professions students to verify suitability to provide patient care and to ensure patient safety.