California State University campuses, including Sacramento State, disclose if a student has been expelled for violent acts at other CSUs, an action similar to K-12 schools and University of California campuses.

California community colleges want to follow; AB 288, a campus safety bill, would have California community colleges disclose a student’s previous violent acts in the past five years when enrolling into another state community college.

AB 288 passed in the California Assembly Committee on Higher Education and would make it policy that California community colleges evaluate an expelled student who has a violent record to determine if the student can re-enroll at a different community college.

Assemblyman Paul Fong, D-Cupertino, sponsored the bill that will now go to the Assembly Committee on Appropriations.

Sac State officials determine if a student with a history of violent offenses can be enrolled. This depends on an assessment of whether the student is a threat to others and if a student has followed recommended actions by university officials.

Senior government major Jacky Elizarraraz said people deserve another shot at living a better life.

“I believe all people should have a chance at rehabilitation, but with the increase in sexual assaults on campus it puts in question what comes first,” Elizarraraz said. “Safety vs. privacy is a hard decision. In the long run, safety on campus might have to come first.”

Sac State tracks students with a history of violent acts in the application, which asks if a student has been convicted of a crime.

Leonard Valdez, director of student conduct, said if the campus is aware, it can take action if there’s a possible issue of aggressive behavior toward others.

Sac State officials can use an interim, a temporary suspension to remove a student immediately, which would last for 10 working days. Valdez said officials would determine if additional actions need to be taken or how the suspension will end.

Community colleges cannot share information about a student who was expelled for violent acts to other community colleges. However, the UC, CSU and K-12 systems can.

AB 288 establishes a California Community College District governing board, which would allow it to deny admission to an applicant who has been expelled from another California community college, according to the bill.

Admission to a California community college would be contingent upon whether the student has been expelled within the preceding five years or is undergoing expulsion procedures in another community college for violent offenses and continues to be a physical threat to the safety of students, faculty and staff, according to AB 288.

At Sac State, enrolled students are also mandated by the state, depending on the type of violent acts they have done, to register on campus to make their presence known at the university, Valdez said.

Sex offenders, students on a probation status and students with violent offenses from out of state must disclose their previous history of violence to the university.

Violent offenses include murder, physical injury to another person, sexual assault or sexual battery, kidnapping for ransom or an award, robbery or extortion, stalking or possessing, selling or furnishing a firearm, knife, explosive or other dangerous object, according to AB 288

Sac State and the University Police Department determine if a student leads them to believe that students will commit aggressive acts toward others or themselves, Valdez said.

Fellow students or faculty members could notify the university or the police about a violent student – even through a posting on Facebook. Once the university has been made aware of the situation, a student can be placed on suspension, Valdez said.

“We could run a background check on each student but that goes beyond our capacity and our desire to look at students in a critical way,” Valdez said. “Sac State assesses these students and would only take action if it has been brought to the university’s attention that a student is a threat to themselves or a student or faculty member.”

The bill was prompted after a community college student was expelled for physically assaulting a faculty member and then wanted to enroll at another campus.

Once the district learned of the student’s history, there was no course of action it could take to ensure campus safety, Fong said.

“The new community college was unaware of the student’s past history because this crucial information was not required to be disclosed or circulated to the next campus,” Fong said.

From 2007-09, 55 out of 117 community college campuses reported 46 expulsions due to assaults, fighting, harassment and other types of threatening behaviors, Fong said.

“We have an obligation to provide a healthy and safe learning environment for students staff and support personnel on community college campuses,” Fong said. “AB 288 will allow California community colleges to take action and place conditions on admitting a student who was expelled for serious acts of violence. Every faculty member and student should feel safe going to work and class.”

Sac State Criminal justice professor Frank Horowitz said he understands why a campus would be concerned but realizes these students are also trying to change their lives.

“Offenders are encouraged to rehabilitate and redo their lives. It’s not easy to put these hurdles up for a person with a bad background,” Horowitz said.

Cecil Canton, Sac State criminal justice professor, said it is hard telling if a student would be a repeat offender.

“If you can’t predict people’s behavior, we can’t say because they have done this in the past that they are doing something wrong now,” Canton said.