I personally don't object so much to the criminal record check.  I think
that there are probably many jobs in a museum that someone with a certain
type of criminal record could use.  And, you certainly wouldn't want to
employ a convicted child molester in a children's museum, as a docent, or
as an education staffer.  If somebody doesn't employ ex-cons, what else
can they do?

However, on the matter of pre-employment drug screening:  Thank God I have
not been asked to take one.  In the abstract, I would resist.  I
have never given an employer cause to suspect that I use illegal drugs (I
don't) and I also am not a liar.  I have no problem being asked to take a
drug test if my performance at work is erratic or my employer has other
reasons to suspect that I am imbibing.  However, blanket pre-employment
drug screening bothers me in the same way that pre-employment lie detector
tests bother me.

George Schultz, you will recall when he was Secretary of State, said that
he would rather resign his post than take a lie detector test.  However,
when Ron asked him to line up to piss in a jar, he said "Me first!"

It is bizarre how some people think.

Claudia Nicholson
Curator of Collections
South Dakota State Historical Society, Pierre

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