This post was written by Hatchet reporter Asthaa Chaturvedi.

A D.C. Council member’s bill to protect ex-offenders from employment discrimination might exclude educational institutions.

Marion Barry, who previously served as mayor and represents Ward 8, covering mainly Southeast D.C., is pushing his colleagues to pass legislation to prevent employers from examining applicants’ criminal records, The Washington Post reported.

Barry’s bill would factor ex-offenders into the D.C. Human Rights Act, which outlaws discrimination based on factors including race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, sexual orientation and marital status.

“The bill is important because it kills a huge hurdle to returning citizens to gain employment. They’re not even getting interviews,” Garret King, committee director for Barry’s office, said.

While the bill’s original draft includes universities, King said if Barry could garner enough support from the rest of the council, educational institutions could receive an exemption.

“Significant reports of discrimination from educational institutions have not been reported by ex offenders,” he said.

Barry first introduced a similar bill that failed in September 2004. There is no timeline for proposing Barry’s bill to protect ex offenders, King said.

University spokeswoman Michelle Sherrard pointed to the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area’s comments on the bill. Regarding current employment policies, she pointed toward the University’s online Equal Employment Opportunity and Human Resources Policy Compliance policies.

“The George Washington University does not unlawfully discriminate against any person on any basis prohibited by federal law, the District of Columbia Human Rights Act, or other applicable law, including without limitation,  race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran  status, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression,” the policy reads.

Sally Kram, a spokeswoman for the consortium, called attempting to tackle unemployment rates for ex-offenders through the Human Rights Act inappropriate. She noted testimony by the consortium’s president, John Childers, who cited universities’ “vulnerable populations.”

“A university, as has been observed by others, is a mini-city that requires rules permitting university administrators to protect its main population—a group of potentially vulnerable young adults between the ages of 17 to 22, many of whom are away from home for the first time,” he wrote in his testimony. “Please allow universities to act to protect their unique, vulnerable communities and preserve the ability to make fully informed decisions about applicants for employment, admission and student housing.”

Childers added that while universities are not opposed to hiring, housing or educating ex-offenders, they look to students and visitors feel safe, and the bill would reduce a school’s flexibility in determining whom to allow on campus

Director of the D.C. Office of Human Rights Gustavo Velasquez said there must be a balance in finding a bill the council, ex-offenders and businesses all support, but not through amending the Human Rights Act.