Joshua Hoe, former director of the University’s debate team, was convicted in October of sexually soliciting an alleged minor over the Internet. But Hoe isn’t the only person affiliated with the University who is on Michigan’s sexual offender registry.

There are 14 people associated with the University who are currently on the registry — a list anyone can access on the Internet to find information about a sex offender’s height, weight, current address and offense. The majority of offenders with University ties are alumni and current and former staff members who hold positions in janitorial work, bus driving and nursing, among others.

This year, Michigan’s registry contains 45,717 offenders — the fourth-highest number of offenders in the nation — according to Parents For Megan’s Law, a national victim’s rights advocacy group. Michigan’s registry includes 559 offenders in Washtenaw County and 85 in the city of Ann Arbor.

Some offenders on the list are affiliated with other universities like Wayne State University, which has 31 affiliated offenders, and Michigan State University, which has 19 affiliated offenders.

Hoe, an offender associated with the University of Michigan, will be on the Michigan Public Sex Offender Registry for life. Hoe also received a one-to-seven year prison sentence in early November. He was placed on the registry after pleading guilty to having sexual conversations with an investigator who posed as a 14-year-old girl on the Internet, according to a Nov. 17 AnnArbor.com article.

According to David Reid, University senior director of strategic communications, Hoe was immediately suspended from his University position upon his arrest and his employment has since ended.

The list — which is searchable by name, location and other criteria — is a product of the Michigan Sex Offenders Registration Act, a 1994 state law which requires persons convicted of certain crimes to register and prohibits certain offenders from working in school zones.

While each state regulates registered offenders differently, Michigan’s law exceeds federal standards set by the Jacob Wetterling Act — an act passed in 1994 that requires states to produce a registry with names of sex offenders who have committed acts against children.

Michigan’s online sex offender directory has been viewed more than 4 million times, according to its website.

One offender, a current University employee who requested anonymity but allowed his gender to be used, said the registry does not fairly portray the offenders on the list.

“Just because you’re on the list doesn’t mean you’re dangerous,” he said in a December interview.

He said his biggest fear of being on the list is that it will cause people to accuse him of crimes he didn’t commit. While acknowledging that the list may be useful for law enforcement, he said he doesn’t think the public is equipped to use the information appropriately.

“The general public doesn’t know what to do with it,” he said.

An August public opinion survey by the Center for Sex Offender Management, a project of the U.S. Department of Justice, found that state and federal officials have enacted a large number of sex offender laws in a short period of time. However, according to the study, “evidence regarding the impact and effectiveness of many of these laws and policies is limited.”

Proponents of the law argue that the registry protects people from sexual predators, but they also say that sex offender recidivism rates can be misleading because many sexual crimes go unreported.

Parents for Megan’s Law offers e-mail alerts that inform community members of new offenders.