The Reasonable Accommodation For Qualified Students With Disabilities policy, currently found in the Faculty Manual, has been revised and retitled Reasonable Accommodations. This policy is posted for review, and can be found on the Policy Library under Policy Development and Review.
The original policy, as written, applied only to students; however, Human Resources also administrated reasonable accommodations for employees through the Americans With Disabilities Act policy. The new policy combines all of the policies regarding reasonable accommodations of both students and employees and also offers new procedures and resources, as well as updated definitions.
In compliance with Drake’s Policy Development, Approval and Communication policy, the two-week review period will be through May 1. Please take a moment to review the revised Reasonable Accommodations policy and related procedures. If you have any comments or concerns regarding the new policy, please send them to dupolicies@drake.edu.
—Katie Overberg, Title IX Coordinator, Equity and Inclusion Policy Specialist
I am pleased to see that we’re taking steps to articulate a policy such as this in more detail. My one significant reservation is that currently the policy states that “In some cases” class attendance is necessary to complete course goals, while in others, student’s can achieve those goals with “many absences.” We should poll faculty to see whether there are, in fact, courses in which “many absences” do not interfere with learning. My sense is that the following language is more accurate: “Because we value experiential, engaged, and collaborative learning at Drake, in almost all cases, active participation in classroom, lab, and other scheduled learning activities is essential to pursuing the learning outcomes of our courses. Only in rare cases can a student with multiple absences achieve the learning expectations of a Drake university course.” I would also like to see specific language about Travel Seminars: That students whose emotional, psychological, or physical disabilities would make it impossible for them to take a consistently active part in these courses may be advised not to enroll in them.
This is an important policy. I agree with Craig Owens’s comment above that the section on student attendance needs revision. It is the standard, not the exception, for attendance to be crucial to learning. The suggested changes send an important message to students, prospective or enrolled. To say attendance “may be” integral to learning misrepresents the type of learning most of us at Drake (university-wide) value and promote.
I also agree that travel seminars require additional language of clarification, perhaps in the section that addresses the potential for actual harm. Should a student’s emotional, mental, or physical health pose a severe risk to their ability to remain safe or their ability to learn in a travel seminar, there should be a process by which the student is advised against enrolling. The emotional, psychological, and physical demands of traveling present a set of risks different from on-campus learning, and Drake International staff as well as seminar leaders would benefit from statements in this policy that would cover decisions pertaining to student accommodation in travel contexts.
Thank you for considering these suggestions.
Respectfully,
Melisa Klimaszewski