A proposal by Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers, to fingerprint all its faculty has met with considerable resistance.

Since early November, the university’s faculty senate has voted twice by a huge majority to reject fingerprinting for each of the school’s some 1,100 employees.

“I have no problem with a background check – I have nothing to hide,” said one member of the faculty senate. “I have a large problem with anyone who wishes to waste tax dollars on an ineffective policy that fails to make us safer and makes us more vulnerable to lawsuits.”

The senate is also calling for a review of similar policies among Florida universities. Faculty members also want to know more about the costs of the proposed fingerprinting policy.

The university is saying it will foot the bill, about $50 per person, which the senate estimates could cost the school about $55,000. This comes during a period when the school may be looking at $3.6 million in state budget cuts this year.

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