UC Davis is latest institution to adopt a reference check policy to stem faculty misconduct

Last year, the University of Wisconsin System very publicly launched a new policy against "passing the harasser" on to unwitting institutions: It said it would disclose substantiated misconduct findings when contacted for employee reference checks. The system also put checks in place to guard against being passed someone else's harassers. Around the same time, the University of California, Davis, more quietly established its own pilot policy on faculty reference checks. Experts say this...