Accommodations

Students seeking disability support and accommodation resources should contact Disability Resource Services (DRS). DRS has been designated as the campus authority to verify disabilities and to prescribe specific accommodations for students with documented disabilities. Individualized programs are designed to enable equal access in the classroom. Academic accommodations and support services are available to students who have mobility, visual, or hearing impairments, chronic health conditions, attention, learning or psychological disorders. 

It is the student's responsibility to request services promptly. To request accommodations for the semester, a student must register with DRS. Once a student is registered, they must complete a Professor Letter Request and return it to DRS. This gives DRS permission to contact the listed faculty, letting them know that the student is registered with DRS, and provide them with the listing of recommended approved classroom accommodations for the semester. Instructors will receive a letter from DRS detailing recommended accommodations for a student. The student is responsible for meeting all course requirements using only approved accommodations.  For information on how to register, please see our section How to Register for Disability Resource Services. 

Please note that accommodation requests are not retroactive. Accommodations start from the date the faculty receives the letter. It is important that the student both request accommodations and give their instructors their accommodation letters as early in the term as possible. 

Reasons requested accommodations may not be approved:

• Providing the accommodation would put an excessive administrative burden on the institution;
• Providing the accommodation would change the nature of an academic program or the school’s curriculum, including giving a student an unfair advantage over other students, lowering academic standards, and significantly altering what is required of a student to complete a class or program; or
• The requested accommodation is of a personal nature; colleges and universities are not required to provide students with disabilities with personal care attendants, personal readers, or personal devices.
   

If DRS refuses to provide you with the specific requested accommodation, we will try to suggest an alternative accommodation that accomplishes the same purpose. If you would like to appeal the denial of an accommodation, please see the Accommodations Appeal Process.
 

The goal of an accommodation is to give the student with a disability equal access to the learning environment. Individualized accommodations are not designed to provide the student with an advantage over other students, to alter a fundamental aspect of the course, or to weaken academic rigor.