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Lewis & Clark College is
committed to serving the needs of its disabled students. The College
provides a full-time Coordinator of Student Support Services in the
Student Development Center who is available to ensure that disabled
students receive all of the benefits of a comprehensive selection
of services and a formal Student Disability Grievance Procedure which
provides prompt and equitable resolution of any complaints arising
out the College's responsibilities under the Americans with Disabilities
Act (ADA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and other
pertinent federal, state, and local disability anti-discrimination
laws.
Lewis & Clark recognizes
physical and mental disabilities that included mobility, sensory,
health, psychological, and learning disabilities, and provides reasonable
accommodations once the disability is adequately documented. While
Lewis & Clark's legal obligations only extend to disabilities
of a substantial and long term nature, it is also the College's practice
to honor reasonable requests for accommodations for temporary disabilities
such as a physical injury, illness or pregnancy.
It is the responsibility
of the student to make his or her disability and needs known in a
timely fashion and to provide appropriate documentation and evaluations
to support the accommodations the student requests. A student with
a disability who requires accommodations must notify the Coordinator
of Student Support Services in the Student Development Center (in
the case of undergraduate and graduate students) or the Associate
Dean for Academic Affairs (in the case of Law School students) of
his or her desire for accommodations as soon after admission as possible.
Students must not assume that this information is known to either
of these offices because the student's application indicated the presence
of a disability. Once the College has been notified and specific accommodations
are requested and appropriately documented, the College works with
the student to obtain the approved accommodations to ensure the student
has the best possible opportunity to succeed.
The procedures for obtaining
accommodations differ among the Northwestern School of Law, the College
of Arts and Sciences and the Graduate School of Professional Studies.
However, the services each offers are quite similar and the procedures
are all intended to effectively provide for the appropriate needs
of the disabled student within the structure and policies of each
school.
Undergraduate and Graduate Students:
Requests for accommodations
should be routed through the Coordinator of Student Support Services
within the Student Development Center in Templeton College Center.
Law Students:
All arrangements
for accommodations for law students must be routed through the Associate
Dean of Academic Affairs for the Law School. In some cases, the
adjustments will be made in consultation with faculty but individual
faculty members will not make accommodations directly with students.
In a like manner, all exam modification requests from law students
are also to be directed to the Associated Dean of Academic Affairs
of the Law School. Because of the time required to make arrangements
to accommodate these requests, Law School students with long term
or permanent disabilities must make such requests no later than
one month before the last day of classes. Exam accommodation request
must be renewed each semester.
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Lewis & Clark will
honor requests for reasonable accommodations only for adequately
documented disabilities. The assessment documentation must provide
data that supports the requests for any academic adjustments and
must be submitted to the Coordinator of Student Support Services
of the Student Development Center or the Associate Dean for Academic
Affairs of the Law School, as appropriate. In the event that a student
requests an academic adjustment or accommodation that is not supported
by the assessment documentation, or if the initial verification
is incomplete or inadequate to determine the extent of the disability,
then it is incumbent on the student to obtain supplemental testing
or assessment. The cost of obtaining all professional assessment
and documentation is borne by the student. Proper documentation
includes the following:
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1. Physical Disabilities: |
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The documentation must
reflect the student's present level of functioning in regard
to the major life activity that is impaired. |
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2. Learning Disabilities: |
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The student is responsible for providing
professional testing and evaluation results which reflect
the individual's present level of processing information
and present achievement level. Documentation verifying
the learning disability must: |
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be prepared
by a professional qualified to diagnose a learning disability,
including but not limited to a licensed physician, learning
disability specialist, or psychologist; |
| (B) |
include
the testing procedures followed, the instruments used to assess
the disability, the test results, and a written interpretation
of the test results by the professional; |
| (C) |
reflect
the individual's present level of functioning in the achievement
areas of: reading comprehension, reading rate, written expression,
writing mechanics and vocabulary, writing, grammar, mathematical/nonverbal
reasoning and spelling; |
| (D) |
reflect
the individual's present level of functioning in the areas of
intelligence and processing skills. |
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3. Psychological Disabilities: |
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If a student
has a psychological disability which affects academic
performance or takes medication which causes a similar
effect, documentation from a psychologist or medical doctor
is required which details the effects of the disability
and/or the medication on the student's academic performance.
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Reasonable accommodations may include
but are not limited to course load modifications, exam accommodations,
readers, interpreters, notetakers, taped textbooks, and additional
time to complete assignments. Students may request specific accommodations
and professional health care providers who verify the disability
may recommend specific accommodations. However, Lewis & Clark will
have the responsibility for making the final decision on accommodations.
This decision will be made on the basis of the documentation provided
and the requirements of the academic program. Accommodations will
not be considered reasonable if they fundamentally alter the nature
of the program or if they would be unduly burdensome for the College,
either financially or administratively.
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| 1. Undergraduate and Graduate Students |
The Coordinator of Student
Support Services must approve accommodations for a disability. Once
accommodations are approved, the Coordinator will work out the requested
and approved accommodation arrangements with individual faculty. In
each case the professor will receive written notice of the accommodations
that have been requested and approved if the student gives permission
for the professor to be notified.
In the case of a student
with a documented learning disability, the Coordinator of Student
Support Services will complete an official Notice of Disability form
which is sent to each faculty member each semester whom the student
requests to make accommodations. In all other cases of a documented
disability, a letter will be sent to each professor that will explain
the accommodations that have been approved by the Coordinator of Student
Support Services for that particular class at the student's request.
Professors are not permitted to grant accommodations that have not
been approved in advance in writing by the Coordinator of Student
Support Services.
All approved accommodations
will be implemented as soon as possible by the Student Support Services
office. However, students are strongly encouraged to make accommodation
requests to the Coordinator of Student Support Services as early in
the semester as possible to allow the professor the opportunity to
plan for their needs once the requests have been approved and the
professor notified. In particular, exam modification requests should
be made to the Coordinator of Student Support Services at least two
weeks in advance (three weeks in the case of final exams) to allow
time to work out appropriate arrangements.
If a faculty or staff member
hesitates to comply with the requested accommodations because of concerns
regarding alteration of the academic program or standards, the Coordinator
of Student Support Services will work out arrangements which will
best meet the needs of the instructor, the student and the College.
If agreement between the Coordinator and the faculty member cannot
be reached, the matter will be appealed by the Coordinator of Student
Support Services to the appropriate department chair or dean. |
2. Law Students |
| All arrangements for accommodations
for law students must be routed through the Associate Dean of Academic
Affairs for the Law School (at extension 6648), as noted above in
Section I. |
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