University administrators have altered a recently approved policy requiring background checks for all prospective faculty members, citing protests from departments in the College of the Liberal Arts.

Heads of five departments are asking for reform because they say the background checks would restrict the university from hiring and retaining faculty.

The objecting departments are Germanic and Slavic languages and literatures; economics; labor studies and industrial relations; history; and religious studies

In a resolution from the economics department, members said the "policy represents an erosion of civil liberties and has no place in any university not dealing with national defense." The resolution also said it would hinder efforts to promote diversity and would place the university at a disadvantage when competing for new faculty.

Robert Marshall, economics department head, said the university must reconsider this initiative.

"I don't know of any other universities besides Indiana pursuing this," he said. "I'm not saying the administration is doing something wrong, but more thought must go into this process."

Marshall said changes are necessary, but the university shouldn't act impatiently.

Gregg Roeber, head of the history and religious studies departments, said the departments objected "very strongly" to the background checks.

"The central administration needs to consult faculty more broadly," he said. "Nobody has said, 'go ahead and hire felons,' but there are procedural and practical issues that don't seem to be addressed."

Robert Secor, vice provost for academic affairs, said the policy had been reviewed and will be discussed at the Feb. 3 University Faculty Senate meeting.

"We will be beginning to implement the changes within a week," Secor said.

He added that the following changes have been made in a "university disclosure":

Only the final job candidate, rather than all candidates, will be asked to submit a self-disclosure form. Only felonies or falsifications will be reported to the Office of Human Resources.

The background check will not require convictions for misdemeanors. It will be restricted to a check of felonies, sex offenses or instances of misappropriation of funds, harassment charges, fraud charges and discrimination charges.

To prevent concerns about violation of civil liberties, faculty members will be asked to give written consent before a background check is made and will be informed about any finding that they had not disclosed.

The Provost will issue an annual report about the results of the procedure, but not intrude on confidentiality.

HireRight Inc., of Irvine, Calif., will process the self-disclosure form based on federal and state records. Then, HireRight will send a confidential report to the Office of Human Resources.

Marshall said the resolutions do not address all of his concerns, though.

"If a background check comes back, how do I determine if somebody has had significant rehabilitation to be hired," Marshall asked. "I'm not formally trained in that field."