A conviction won't necessarily keep felons out of Ball State University classes, but administrators said there is no cause for concern.
Ball State typically accepts yearly between eight and 16 students with prior felony convictions, David Fried, director of Student Rights and Community Standards, said Friday - two days after a non-traditional student with several previous convictions was arrested on multiple charges.
University officials don't comment on specific student cases. But there are no policies preventing students with criminal records from being accepted at Ball State, Fried said.
James Cleo Robertson, a 40-year-old freshman, is one of those students.
Robertson remained in Delaware County Jail on $32,500 bond as of Sunday afternoon after Muncie police arrested him on suspicion of stealing a handgun, leaving the scene of an accident and operating a vehicle while intoxicated, among other charges.
According to the Indiana Department of Correction's offender data system, Robertson had been in prison at least three times on burglary, theft and drug charges before coming to Ball State.
Robertson was convicted of resisting law enforcement in 2005 and operating a vehicle while intoxicated in September 2008, according to the Muncie Police Department's probable cause affidavit for Robertson's arrest.
Any applicants with felony convictions, such as Robertson, must undergo a review before Ball State accepts or denies them, Fried said.
"We do these reviews so that we know who we have on campus," he said. "If it was somebody we felt was a threat to other individuals, we wouldn't allow them [admission]. We don't have anything to fear with convicted felons on campus."
Ball State applications have a box asking prospective students if they have ever been convicted of a felony.
Applicants who mark "Yes" and are academically-eligible to attend the university have their paperwork forwarded to the Office of Student Rights and Community Standards, Fried said.
"What you have to understand is the response to that question is voluntary," he said. "We have no way of knowing if they're telling the truth or not."
If a student with a conviction writes "No" they can be expelled for lying on their application, he said.
Fried said he then seeks out the applicants' probation officers and checks into their criminal backgrounds to see what types of convictions they received and whether they are habitual offenders.
"Conviction of a felony doesn't necessarily mean you won't be accepted," he said. "You can have a felony for a third DUI, which isn't so serious as other [convictions]. ... Generally the only reason [we would] deny a person, it would be a crime of violence like rape or assault or shooting somebody."
Ryan Zerfas, junior philosophy and religious studies major, said he wouldn't care if convicted felons attend Ball State as long as they didn't commit violent crimes.
"If someone had a criminal history and dabbled in jail time now and then, we shouldn't hold them back from the right to have an education," Zerfas said, "especially since Ball State isn't like an Ivy League school [because it is a state university]."
"The government and police obviously feel they're able to be in society," Austin Wise, freshman psychology major, added on.
Convictions for felonies such as burglary and theft are usually acceptable to the university, Fried said, but in many cases they will not be allowed to live on campus.
Fried said in the seven years he has been reviewing applicants with felony convictions, he has had one problem.
"We have very, very few problems with these students," he said.
The university has accepted about 120 or 130 applications from convicted felons and rejected about 10, he said.
Instead of rejecting the applications, Fried said, it is more common for the university to suggest convicted felons wait a few semesters or take online classes before coming to Ball State.
"A lot of times, it'll be somebody who just got out, and a month later they want to enroll at the university," he said. "We prefer they wait a little before so they get their life adjusted. ... Somebody who has a rather long record, like multiple felonies over a lifetime, we might encourage them to wait."
In a lot of cases, the university will require the felons to first complete any rehabilitation programs they are in, Fried said.
Once classes begin for the students, Fried said, the university has no way of monitoring their behavior; however, he does ask them to meet with him periodically during their first semester.
"A lot of them are coming from our education program in prison," he said. "It's a lot different environment [at Ball State] than taking class in prison. They get lost. Think of your own time as a freshman. You're basically put in the middle of campus, and you're on your own after several years of someone always telling you what to do. That can be a scary adjustment."
Fried said it is more beneficial for felons to seek a higher education, beginning with the prison program, but they need to be allowed to continue their education once they are paroled.
"If we're going to restrict every felon from Ball State, what does that tell the people in prison?" he said. "That you're good enough to take classes in prison but not at Ball State."
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