Grievances

Students with disabilities who believe they have received inappropriate treatment or inadequate service from the University pertaining to their requested accommodations have the right to file a grievance with Director of Disability Services.
 

Disability Accommodation Grievance Procedure

Students with disabilities who believe their disability accommodation request(s) has been improperly denied or a granted request(s) has been improperly implemented, have the right to file a grievance with the Director of Disability Services (ODS). The grievance must be submitted in writing to the Disability Services and should include a detailed description of the inappropriate or inadequate service and supporting documentation (when appropriate). Students with disabilities must indicate the resolution they are seeking. The Director of ODS (or their designee) will meet with the student and investigate the claim. A response will be communicated to the student in writing.

Students with disabilities who are unsatisfied with the response from the Director of Disability Services may submit an appeal within 5 business days to the Vice President for Student Affairs. The Vice President of Student Affairs (or their designee) will not conduct a de novo review of the grievance. Instead, only the following will be considered:

  1. Whether a procedural irregularity may have affected the outcome;
  2. Any new evidence or information that was unavailable at the time that the Director of ODS (or their designee) issued a response to the grievance;
  3. Whether conflict or bias may have affected the response of the Director of ODS (or their designee); or
  4. Whether the decision was inconsistent with the weight of the evidence

Appeals must be in writing and must provide detail regarding one or more of the above factors. The decision of the appeal by the Vice President for Student Affairs (or their designee) is final and cannot be appealed within the University.

In some cases, a student with an approved accommodation may feel that the University has failed to effectively implement a granted accommodation. This includes, but is not limited to a complaint or allegation that staff or faculty have failed to provide a student with disabilities with an approved accommodation, the student has experienced significant delays in the implementation of an approved accommodation, or the student may perceive resistance or discouragement about using an accommodation. The Disability Accommodation Grievance Procedure is the proper grievance process for such a situation. Alternatively, students who believe they have been discriminated on the basis of a disability but the situation does not involve an allegation of an improperly denied accommodation request or improper implementation of a granted request, may submit a grievance under the University’s Nondiscrimination Policy.