City College of San Francisco Changes Hiring Policy to Include Consideration of Applicants with Prior Drug Convictions

“This new policy will allow the College to draw on a wider, more diverse, pool of job applicants and to hire the most qualified people, including those who can show students that hard work and education can overcome youthful mistakes,” said Michael Risher, staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California (ACLU-NC).

In a January 15, 2008, letter to then-Chancellor Philip R. Day, Jr., the ACLU of Northern California, the Women’s Employment Rights Clinic of Golden Gate University School of Law, and the All of Us or None project outlined concerns that the college’s blanket rejection of applicants violated the Education Code and the Due Process Clause of the California Constitution, and discriminated against poor people and people of color.

“City College serves the very communities in which people often face tremendous challenges and need second chances. This is an important step in opening up employment opportunities for people who have turned their lives around,” said Marci Seville, Director of the Women’s Employment Rights Clinic of Golden Gate University School of Law.

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