A reminder to faculty, as the semester gets underway, about religious accommodations.
In December 2020, the Faculty Senate passed a motion that stated: “To ensure equity, Drake University will make a good faith effort to provide reasonable religious accommodations to students whose religious beliefs and practices conflict with an academic requirement unless such an accommodation would create an undue hardship on the University community.”
The full motion provides examples of “reasonable accommodation.”
As a guide to instructors in planning their courses and assignments, a list of religious holidays where observance may compete with the demands of the academic calendar can be found at drake.edu/acad/calendar/religiousholidays/.
The list is not a designation of all religious holidays recognized by the University; it is simply an aid for planning purposes. Instructors should accommodate religious rituals and holidays that are both listed and not listed on this schedule. Please note that there are rituals of some religions that may not be scheduled very far in advance. Any instructor with concerns regarding a given holiday, or the academic implications of a particular student’s religious observance, may seek guidance from the chair of their department, dean of their school, or their Provost.
— Jennifer Harvey, Campus Equity and Inclusion