A GOOD IDEA, FOR A CHANGE, FROM ACADEMIA – AT 9:04 P.M. ET:  The new president of the University of Virginia appears serious about campus security, and is starting with a common-sense idea:

Students returning to the University of Virginia this month will be required to report whether they have been arrested or convicted, a new layer of security announced Friday in response to the May slaying of student Yeardley Love.

University President Teresa A. Sullivan discussed the new rule at a news conference marking the end of her first week on the job. University leaders hope screening students for criminal encounters will flag those who might commit violent acts.

Students return to Charlottesville the weekend of Aug. 21. When they log onto the campus computer system for the first time, each will be prompted to report any arrest, other than minor traffic infractions, since enrolling.

Love, 22, of suburban Baltimore was found dead in her off-campus apartment May 3. George Huguely of Chevy Chase, her 22-year-old ex-boyfriend and a fellow lacrosse player, is charged in the killing.

Huguely had a prior arrest, for a drunken encounter with a Lexington, Va., police officer, in fall of his junior year. University officials said had they known, Huguely probably would have been suspended or expelled.

There has been a policy in place at UVA requiring students to report arrests, but the requirement, if you can believe this, was voluntary.  And the policy was never enforced.  Now students will have to reply to a direct question when they come to school.

We await the scholarly reaction of the ACLU.

August 6, 2010