Following NYU’s 33-hour long student sit-in (the school’s longest on record), NYU’s Incarceration to Education Coalition (IEC) had the opportunity to meet with Common App CEO, Paul Mott, on Mar. 29 to put forward their arguments for “Abolish THE BOX”. The meeting was a result of the negotiations between IEC organizers and the NYU administration held during March’s sit-in. The IEC was also given the right to record the conversation after their initial request to make the meeting open to the public was denied. “I think young people are witnessing the devastating impacts of mass incarceration and the enormous inequality in American society. New York City and NYU are perfect examples of this: wealthy families are spending a quarter of a million dollars to send their kids to NYU while working class students are struggling to make ends meet. At the same time, working class and poor communities of color in NYC are systematically targeted by police and incarcerated. I think students recognize their privilege in attending NYU, and they want to do something to break down the policies or practices that keep so many people out,” commented IEC organizer Eric Sturm. Sturm added, “Before IEC demanded a meeting with NYU in 2014, NYU had no official policy for how they use information from THE BOX in admissions. The statement NYU has on its website regarding criminal records in admissions and the creation of a “special committee” for evaluating applicants who check THE BOX were both responses to IEC’s Abolish THE BOX campaign. Initially, NYU gave IEC credit for this “reform,” but we asked that our name be removed because we do not support any reforms that attempt to legitimize THE BOX in admissions. After our first sit-in at the NYU Welcome Center, NYU publicly announced that they are calling on the Common App to conduct research on THE BOX. We know that NYU made this public statement because they felt pressure from IEC and our allies, but our demand was that NYU publicly condemns THE BOX, not just ask for more research. We could not accept this stalling tactic and that was the impetus behind our second sit-in.”Seven members of the IEC met with representatives of the Common App via conference call, including Chair of the Board of Directors Gil Villanueva. Several members of the NYU administration were also present at the meeting, but Senior Vice President for University Relations and Public Affairs Lynne Brown was the only administrator who regularly spoke on behalf of NYU. During the meeting, both NYU and Common App repeated the desire to have more research conducted on the effects of THE BOX. The IEC responded to this by presenting their argument as to why more research is unnecessary and pointing out how no research was done before putting THE BOX on the Common App in the first place. Research shows a strong inverse correlation between education attainment and recidivism, and available data suggests roughly two out of three people coming out of jail or prison will be incarcerated again within three years. When these same populations are able to get a bachelor’s degree, the recidivism rate drops to the single digits, and with a graduate level degree, the recidivism rate is close to 0. The meeting went as the IEC had expected, with the Common App representatives providing little to no definitive answers to several questions: “The Common Application appeared to know little about the school-to-prison pipeline, or how THE BOX could contribute to this self-perpetuating system of inequity and oppression upon our nation’s children. Despite the wealth of current research and statements from relevant experts and consultants on this matter, the Common Application felt this information was not enough to convince them that the BOX is discriminatory.” The organization used the Virginia Tech shooting of 2007 as an argument for THE BOX but the IEC notes the perpetrator in that attack did not have a previous criminal record. A possible area of controversy involves the financial planning and investment management company BlackRock, which manages Common App’s assets and whose CEO, Laurence Fink, is a member of the NYU Board of Trustees. BlackRock has over $100 million invested in Corrections Corporations of America, the largest private prison company in the United States. “Since BlackRock’s financial strategy depends on the growth of the private prison industry it would be fair to say that NYU and the Common App have a conflict of interest regarding expanding access to education for people with criminal records. This is particularly important when we think about recidivism rates and access to higher education. It is worrisome to me that neither Common App nor NYU considers this a conflict of interest,” added Sturm. Common App has stated that their decision on this issue is based on the desire of member universities, and thus has placed the responsibility of abolishing THE BOX on the universities themselves. Meaning, NYU makes the final decision on removing the questions from their applications - Common App can move THE BOX to the supplemental part of the application and NYU can choose to remove THE BOX from their own supplement. IEC organizer Sheba Rivera commented, “NYU describes itself as ”open to all” and “in and of the city.” Many students choose NYU because this university claims to be dedicated to both inclusion and principles of the city's community. NYU has a responsibility to consider the facts and live up to the values they espouse.” Following the meeting, it was decided the Common App would provide the IEC with surveys, research, and any organizations the Common App consulted before it was decided THE BOX would be included in university applications. Common App’s governing documents, bylaws, and conflicts of policy, and details on the decision-making structure of the organization would also be given to the IEC. The possibility of future meetings was also discussed, but no future dates or agendas have been set, while IEC has scheduled a meeting with NYU President Andrew Hamilton for Apr. 25. This article was written by Lathika Chandra Mouli. Please send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: The Common App