Rights & Responsibilities

Students with disabilities/impairments at Emmanuel College have the right to:

• Access courses, programs, services and facilities offered through the College;
• An opportunity to learn and to receive reasonable accommodations and/or auxiliary aids and services;
• Appropriate confidentiality of all information regarding their disabilities/impairments;
• Academic information, reasonably available in accessible formats.

Students with disabilities/impairments at Emmanuel College have the responsibility to:

• Meet qualifications and maintain institutional standards for courses, programs, services and facilities;
• Identify as an individual with a disability/impairment when an accommodation is needed and to seek information, counsel, and assistance as necessary;
• Demonstrate and/or document (from an appropriate professional) how the disability/impairment limits their participation in courses, programs, services and facilities;
• Follow published procedures for obtaining reasonable accommodations and/or auxiliary aids and services.

Emmanuel College has the right to:

• Identify and establish essential functions, abilities, skills, knowledge, and standards for courses, programs, services, facilities for students, and to evaluate and determine reasonable accommodations on this basis;
• Request and receive, through the Disability Support Services office, current and appropriate documentation that supports requests for accommodations and/or auxiliary aids and services;
• Deny a request for accommodations and/or auxiliary aids and services if the documentation demonstrates that the request is not warranted or if the individual fails to provide appropriate documentation;
• Select among similarly effective accommodations and/or auxiliary aids and services;
• Refuse an unreasonable accommodation and/or auxiliary aid or service that creates an undue burden for the College or imposes a fundamental alteration on a program or activity of the College.

Emmanuel College has the responsibility to:

• Provide academic information to students with disabilities/impairments in accessible formats upon request unless to do so would constitute an undue burden for the College; ensure that courses, programs, services, and facilities for students, when viewed in their entirety, are available and usable in integrated and appropriate settings;
• Evaluate students and applications on their abilities and not their disabilities/impairments;
• Provide or arrange reasonable accommodations and/or auxiliary aids and services for students with disabilities/impairments in courses, programs, services and facilities;
• Maintain appropriate confidentiality of records and communication.

Students with disabilities/impairments are ensured that written records will be kept confidential and made available only to those with a legitimate interest in them. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974 protect the confidentiality of student medical and disability/impairment records. Disability/impairment-related information is kept by the college or university in separate files with access limited to appropriate personnel. FERPA protects a student's record from being shared (without the student's permission) with faculty, administrators, other students, the press, or anyone without a legitimate reason for seeing the record. (HEATH Resource Center).

A note for faculty: Disability/impairment-related documentation should be submitted only to the Student Accessibility and Accommodations office. If a student provides you with personal records or documentation, refer him/her to the SAA office. Any information about a disability/impairment should be kept confidential and not shared with other faculty or staff.

Emmanuel College strives to provide prompt and equitable resolution of complaints alleging action prohibited by the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

Any person who believes that appropriate accommodations have not been provided to a student or that discrimination has occurred against a student based on disability/impairment is permitted to file a grievance with the College as provided for by the following grievance procedure. Employees with disabilities/impairments or members of the public with disabilities/impairments who believe that unlawful discrimination has occurred should direct their concerns to the Director of Human Resources for resolving such disputes.

Emmanuel College is committed to using its best efforts to resolve disputes pertaining to disability services in an informal manner whenever possible. To this end, students, who believe they have been aggrieved by either some action or inaction on the part of the College as a whole or with a particular individual are strongly encouraged to raise their concern directly with the individual or other appropriate official of the College.

Whenever an individual is dissatisfied with the informal resolution of a grievance or prefers to file a formal complaint the following procedures shall apply.

• Grievances concerning the delivery of disability support services or concerning discrimination based on disability/impairment must be addressed to the Assistant Dean of the Academic Resource Center, who oversees Student Accessibility and Accommodations.
• The grievance must be submitted in writing, contain the name and address of the complainant, and describe allegations. The description must include specific facts to support the allegation(s) The complaint should be sent via email to Wendy LaBron, Assistant Dean of the Academic Resource Center, at labronw [at] emmanuel.edu. Upon receipt, you will receive email confirmation that your grievance was received. If you do not receive confirmation within three working days of submission, please forward your original email to Krista Aslanian, Director of the Academic Resource Center, at aslanian [at] emmanuel.edu.
• The grievance must be filed within thirty (30) days of the alleged incident.
• An investigation, as may be appropriate, shall be conducted by the Assistant Dean of the Academic Resource Center. During this procedure, the complainant and the persons against whom the allegations have been made, and their respective representatives, if any, will have the opportunity to submit information and documentation regarding the complainant’s allegations.
• The investigation will be completed with written results of the investigation issued and a copy forwarded to the complainant within thirty (30) workdays of receipt of the complaint.
• The complainant may appeal the findings of the investigation by submitting a written document to the Vice President of Academic Affairs or their designee. An appeal shall only be considered if the complainant sets forth irregularities of the investigator's determination, such as: inaccurate findings of fact or incorrect conclusions of law, the correction of which would alter the outcome. The appeal must be received within fifteen (15) days of the date of determination. The Vice President of Academic Affairs or their designee and/or the Vice President of Student Affairs or their designee will make a final determination and inform the complainant within fifteen (15) workdays of the Vice President of Academic Affairs receipt of the appeal letter.
• Although the College will make reasonable efforts to comply with these timelines, circumstances such as access to information, availability of personnel, and college breaks, may justify an extension of time.
• Retaliation against any person who files a complaint of alleged discrimination, participates in an investigation, or opposes discriminatory employment or education practice or policy is prohibited under College policy and by State and Federal law.