At a recent UW-Madison Faculty Senate meeting, some UW faculty members argued that the university’s background check policy is unfair.

Under Madison’s policy, faculty members and some staff are subject to criminal background checks every four years. Several division coordinators handle the checks and screen potential employees.

According to The Badger Herald, a professor spoke on behalf of the Senate as a whole when he said of the policy, “It stinks, it’s awful. It’s so shady.” Another said the checks violated due process.

An audit earlier this year uncovered 40 convicted felons working in the System, 27 of whom worked at Madison. Bearing that in mind, it seems logical to check employee backgrounds every few years, especially at the System’s biggest university.

Plenty of other jobs require background checks of their employees. According to the Herald, many other Big 10 universities do as well.

It’s not evident that this policy is being abused, and no professor was quoted as giving any valid criticism of the rule, other than its annoyance. The policy states that the results of background checks will be kept confidential to the fullest extent of the law. Madison Chancellor John Wiley told The Badger Herald that felony convictions would only be an issue if they were relevant to an employee’s job duties. He gave the examples of a convicted child molester in a day care center or an embezzler in an accounting office.

In December, the Board of Regents will hear a proposal requiring background checks on all new employees , as there currently is no System-wide requirement. UW-Eau Claire requires background checks only in fields such as social work where state law mandates them.

Something needs to be done to keep the university population safe from crime. Checking every so often to make sure employees haven’t committed serious offenses doesn’t seem to be too much to ask.