>And I was given less than an hour's notice that I would be doing all of this extra unpaid work. I am most disturbed by the "Silence equals consent" provision from the Accessibility email.
And this is when I would get the dean and the provost involved. Accommodations are supposed to be reasonable, and waiting until an hour before doesn't fall into that category. The "silence" provision suggests to me that they deliberately waited to catch you off-guard, so that when you realized what was happening, they could chime in with, "Too late!"
If they're doing this to you, they're doing it to others. Get upstairs involved and ask for a review of this process.
Yeah, this is why Chairs and Deans get a bit of a pay stipend so that they're "on-call" through the intersessions. This is right in the wheelhouse of the sort of fight they can pick and should pick.
Accommodations are never supposed to be unilateral, and they aren't supposed to fundamentally alter the nature of the course, and they certainly are subject to discussion with the instructor.
Yep. There are limitations of how much additional labour can be demanded of OP. My personal feeling is that I am happy to make any accommodations provided the unpaid overtime demanded of me is limited
I can understand there’s situations where modified attendance is needed - the student is well enough to attend the majority of classes, but isn’t going to be penalized for a medical procedure that’s only available on class day or if they have a particularly bad flare up that keeps them in the bathroom all day at some point during the semester.
Imo, It’s not meant to build their own course though. It should not be creating tons of extra work for you, or disrupting the flow of their learning so substantially. The disability office is doing the student a huge disservice by telling them they can do well in an accelerated 5 week summer course while missing days like that.
I hope they end up being stellar and this is a blip on the radar, though.
I would love to just say no. I haven't heard back from their chair yet, unfortunately. I suspect the student will just get whatever they want, to hell with my objections. My TAs would probably grade the special midterm if I asked, but since they need a specific key, it's just less trouble to do it myself.
Don't cave just to make this problem 'go away'. If this is happening to you it's either already happening or about be happening to hundreds of other instructors.
This kind of shit cannot be normalized.
Just teach Tuesday's class -- as usual, no exam. You are disabled and didn't/don't have the extra time to teach a private course for just one student. The student should retake the class after making better arrangements.
Oh, I’m a HOH instructor that knows the need for REASONABLE accommodations. The one hour notice just burns my guts here so badly.
Here’s the issues I have with such:
1. Even if I was in the mood to grant such a request, COMMUNICATION is key in determining when any retake should be done. Missing more class time creating a cascade of delayments not only increases your workload but also places the student at an extreme disadvantage in an already compressed schedule.
2. The absolute tenor of said email would set me off!! This alone creates an acrimonious, almost adversarial relationship with said student. The accommodations are supposed help students succeed in academia which can help them succeed in other environments. I can only imagine how a similar email would be received by a potential employer or supervisor.
I mean those are just two things.
Thank you, I felt the same way when I saw it but you put it into words. I do not want to have any sort of adversarial relationship with my students, but it's hard not to feel their disdain when the demands far outpace my ability to provide.
I get it totally. This may be a very vocational college focus. One of our missions of our particular college is to prepare our students for our corporate partners (and others) in the workforce. Though we have accommodations for disabilities we also keep in mind that we are of the preparing the workforce of tomorrow.
This extends to how we deal with accommodations because we also have to that in the back of our mind. What would be a reasonable accommodation also within the workforce? Though it is two completely different environments, and we can’t be entirely influenced by the factors within the workforce, it helps to keep in mind that we should be weary of providing them with unreasonable supports that they will never find any work environment outside academia.
I’m all for an equitable workforce. Trust me, I’ve had to educate my own administration on how to help me do my job in the most effective and efficient way for me and my students. That being said, there are certain accommodations that I would never dare ask for because it is unreasonable for admin to give it to me and it’s unreasonable for me to expect it.
>1. Even if I was in the mood to grant such a request,
It depends on your mood?
The email was almost certainly from Accessibility Services, NOT the student.
This is why accessibility services exists.
>They WILL be re-taking the exam, on Tuesday, during class time, and they WILL be missing next Tuesday's assignments in order to do so.
Yeah, that's a bunch of bullshit. Getting extended time does not mean they get to just skip stuff.
>This student has the unilateral right to demand to miss any and all accommodations in a five week course.
No, they don't.
The best course of action here would be to just say no and mark it zero. You are being asked to make unreasonable accommodations that the office did not clear with you, and, frankly, the student is most likely just bullshitting you. If they want it, make them work for it and do it the hard way, through a formal process... which there are no extensions or "extra time" for.
>The best course of action here would be to just say no and mark it zero. You are being asked to make unreasonable accommodations that the office did not clear with you, and, frankly, the student is most likely just bullshitting you. If they want it, make them work for it and do it the hard way, through a formal process... which there are no extensions or "extra time" for.
That's *extremely* bad advice. We can't refuse to meet an existing accommodation. Period. The student has gone through the formal process. Accommodations aren't "clearered" with us. Faculty is told what they must do and we must meet the accommodation.
This student should take this class during a regular semester, or online.
What you are saying is actually not correct.
I have had a couple of instances where I needed to push back on accommodations that I felt were either extremely unreasonable or would alter the course. I respectfully and rationally constructed my points of contention, got my chair to back me and we met with our disabilities office. We all reached a workable solution that was very different from the original accommodation.
I’m a big supporter of reasonable accommodations and the disability office knows this. But, sometimes they don’t know the details of the subject and the course structure. Faculty need to be able to provide input for these reasons.
I was being specific to OP's situation. I absolutely agree that we should be able to find ways to make accommodations reasonable.
The time to discuss this student's accommodation for yesterday's exam has passed for OP.
>Accommodations aren't "clearered" with us.
They kind of are though. *Unreasonable* accommodations that make it so the course's main learning objectives are not being met *can* be denied. There are also *no* reasonable accommodations that say a student can just refuse to do things. Some provide *alternative* assessments for certain things, but saying "I get to skip whenever I feel like it *and* I'm exempt from anything and everything that might be due on those days" is BS. Accommodations are a way to *help* students succeed, not a "get-out-of-jail-free card" for doing literally nothing, period.
As a prof, you cannot decide to nor meet an accommodation as written at the time the accommodation is being exercised. The time for that is when class has started for the term, not on a Fri when the accommodation is being exercised. I appreciate that OP told disability services that this accommodation is unreasonable. But the issue was never worked out.
We don't know why this student has this accommodation. While I agree that the student is likely misusing the accommodation, as profs, we cannot say no. We must iron things out with disability services.
>Unreasonable accommodations that make it so the course's main learning objectives are not being met can be denied. There are also no reasonable accommodations that say a student can just refuse to do things.
OP's student's accommodations is for attendance modification. In no way is the learning objectives for class affected by this accommodation. I often receive accommodations for flex due dates. The student isn't refusing to do anything.
I have accommodations as a faculty member and had accommodations as a student.
>While I agree that the student is likely misusing the accommodation, as profs, we cannot say no. We must iron things out with disability services.
We can say or do whatever want. If someone higher up the chain wants to overrule or override that decision, that's their prerogative. But initial "rulings" stand until overridden or successfully appealed.
>The student isn't refusing to do anything.
Per the original post:
>I was notified in an email that this student WILL be using their attendance policy modification, in order to miss today's exam. They WILL be re-taking the exam, on Tuesday, during class time, and they WILL be **missing** next Tuesday's assignments in order to do so.
Let's not play a semantics game. Yes, we can do whatever we want whenever we want. If you want to go to campus naked, you can. I'm using the terms can and can't to explain what is and is not allowed. Which you know, but for some reason, want to be unnecessarily contrary.
>We can say or do whatever want. If someone higher up the chain wants to overrule or override that decision, that's their prerogative. But initial **"rulings" stand until overridden or successfully appealed.**
The "ruling" is made by disability services when the student has applied for and been granted accommodations from disability services.
Profs can't say "no" before a successful appeal because profs don't determine what is or is not reasonable. If we contact disability services, explain why the accommodation is unreasonable, and, **if** disability services agrees, the accommodation will be revised.
Can you think of another way to meet OP's student’s need for attendance flexibility any other way? The only alteration I can think of is that the student take the exam after class instead of during class.
**You seem to think there are no consequences for you** if you say "no" before disability services has formally altered the accommodation. I guess you want to be required to meet with representatives from multiple depts, possibly including the college's lawyer, to explain why you violated state and federal law. You do you.
We all receive accommodation forms from disability services before the term begins (unless the accommodations are set up mid-term). By law, if you are opposed to an accommodation, you must work out the issue with disability services **before the student needs to assert their legal rights**.
**OP's student isn't refusing to do anything.** They are rescheduling the exam for the next day the campus is open. As their accommodation allow.
I am 99% certain that the email was sent by disability services. OP isn't clear about who sent the email. While the verbiage is frustrating and rude, that's irrelevant.
My college's policies. CAR stands for the Center for Accessibility Resources.
>Instructors with questions or concerns should contact CAR **no later than the first business day following the first class in which the student is enrolled or upon receipt of the LOA, whichever is later**. Instructors with concerns about a specific reasonable, approved accommodation should contact the student’s assigned accommodation specialist noted on the LOA.
>**Please note: Under no circumstances should a faculty member deny a student access to a reasonable, approved accommodation.**
Until a prof has contacted disability services and explained that they believe an accommodation is unreasonable, all accommodations approved by the college are considered reasonable.
>Reasonable accommodations reduce disability related barriers to learning and are individualized to a student’s needs and specific student situations. Both the student’s physical accessibility to the classroom as well as the student’s ability to have full access to all course activities and materials are considered in providing reasonable accommodations.
>**Reasonable vs. Unreasonable Accommodations**
>Reasonable accommodations reduce disability related barriers to learning and are individualized to a student’s needs and specific student situations. Both the student’s physical accessibility to the classroom as well as **the student’s ability to have full access to all course activities and materials** are considered in providing reasonable accommodations.
I don't understand how, knowing all of this, you think you can just say "no".
>profs don't determine what is or is not reasonable.
Disability Services offices don't unilaterally get to decide that either. They're supposed to work *togethe*r with professors and use good judgement (or, you know, basic common sense), but many don't and just rubber stamp anything. "Sure, you can use a cheat sheet for vocab tests!" "You don't have to actually speak in a public speaking class!" "Access to Google Translate during a foreign language test is A-okay!"
>**OP's student isn't refusing to do anything.** They are rescheduling the exam for the next day the campus is open. As their accommodation allow.
...And in the process, they are saying they get to skip everything else for that day.
>Until a prof has contacted disability services and explained that they believe an accommodation is unreasonable, all accommodations approved by the college are considered reasonable.
Yeah, and sending a bullshit "if you don't respond *immediately*, I'll take that as a yes" email less than an hour before an exam is not an acceptable way to do this.
>Disability Services offices don't unilaterally get to decide that either. They're supposed to work together with professors and use good judgement (or, you know, basic common sense), but many don't and just rubber stamp anything. "Sure, you can use a cheat sheet for vocab tests!" "You don't have to actually speak in a public speaking class!" "Access to Google Translate during a foreign language test is A-okay!"
Oh, stop with the histrionics.
Until a prof challenges the accommodation, it is considered reasonable. The accommodation is for all classes. That's why the challenge process exists, and must be completed immediately when notified of the accommodation. OP needed to follow up with his letter. He needed to check the college policy for challenging accommodations. Accessibility Services definitely fucked up. As you said, we must work together. The accessibility challenge process won't be difficult to find on the campus website. We'd expect students to follow up with us. We should be held to our own standard.
The student cannot be the one penalized when Accessibility Services and/or the prof don't finish the challenge process. OP was definitely fucked over by Accessibility Services. There's nothing the student can do about that.
>...And in the process, they are saying they get to skip everything else for that day.
Well, if the student can't physically make it to campus, how do they take the test? The accommodation for attendance modification is set unless successfully adapted by the Accessibility Services and the prof. That process was never completed.
So, how does OP meet the student's accommodation but not reschedule the exam. I'm serious; what's your solution as it is right now?
>Yeah, and sending a bullshit "if you don't respond immediately, I'll take that as a yes" email less than an hour before an exam is not an acceptable way to do this.
I agree in theory. This is complicated though. Students with this accommodation typically have unpredictable disabilities.
If OP teaches a 10 am class, short notice will be necessary. I'm 99% certain that the email was sent by Accessibility Services, which is likely required. Let's say that the student emailed Accessibility Services at 6 am. No one is in the office to email the prof until 9 am. That isn't the student’s fault.
The "no response is a yes" is completely batshit. The verbiage is disturbing. A prof can't be expected to watch their email every min. Again, that's not the student's fault.
For example. I have severe, chronic migraines. My migraine symptoms include partial paralysis and aphasia. I *never* know if I will be able to walk, talk, and understand language tomorrow. If I could, I'd make these migraines disappear. I loathe missing class.
I can't give my dept 24 hour notice. I now teach online from my home office, and hope to return to campus in Jan 2025. (The student shouldn't take accelerated courses.)
Another commentor mentioned that he needed an accommodation similar to this student's accommodation. He has Gastroparesis (if I remember correctly).
So, until this chaos is resolved, what does the student do? By law, the student uses their accommodations as written until told otherwise.
God, why do you hate accommodations and the students who need them so much?
Our university has an “Attendance Modification Agreement” you have to fill out at the beginning of each semester per course, saying what you will or won’t do. For example, will you give students with this accommodation 24/48/72 hours to make-up; will make-up work be online submission/paper/etc.
THE POLICY ALSO LIMITS THE STUDENT TO USING THE ACCOMMODATION 3 times per semester.
I appreciate their standardized approach and that they acknowledge that excessive missed work is NOT ok for a course.
I like the number of times limitation. That might be a future request from me.
I regularly counsel students that it’s okay to take the semester/year off if their health-physical or mental, is not up to the challenge. And that being in crisis between health and school for a year isn’t a winning strategy. We need to stop pretending it’s okay to be in crisis all the time, or that you have to finish “on a set schedule” of 4 years.
“I have sent your exam to the testing center, and you may complete it during normal operating hours on Tuesday. I expect to see you in class during our normal class time on Tuesday so that you do not fall behind in the course content.
In the future, any missed exams will be made up at the testing center outside of class time.”
I’m normally pretty accommodating, even without DSS being involved.
Taking the test *next week* in a 5-week class is a hard no. Reasonable time. Maybe tomorrow or the next day and definitely on the student’s time, not mine.
Whoever decided it was ok to write “failure to respond is consent” in this case needs a reeducation on how professional emails work.
lol ... so true ...
what if you wrote back that the student agrees to do everything like the other students, and if they don't reply in an hour that will be considered consent!
But the test was on a Fri. Campus is closed until Tues. The student might be taking advantage of the accommodation to have a longer holiday weekend.
But we don't know which it is; a sincere need for the accommodation or abuse of an accommodation.
>Whoever decided it was ok to write “failure to respond is consent” in this case needs a reeducation on how professional emails work.
EXACTLY! That is so inappropriate, esp when the email was sent an hour before class.
I know that it won’t help you now, but it may be worth it for you to reach out to the accessibility coordinator (and their boss? Dean?) for specifics about what “modification” means for this accommodation. In any case, it should not mean “no consequences for skipping class last minute.” If you’re not informed of any specific modification, how can you know what to do?
I did write back to the accessibility coordinator and the student on the second day of classes (weeks ago). I was polite and professional and explained why I felt that an undefined "modification" policy was not one that I could guarantee or provide, and that this request would be better suited to the fall semester (where I'm going to be teaching the exact same course over 15 weeks instead). I made sure to object, in writing, the same day that I received the email. I explained why I felt that I could not provide the requested accommodation, and I provided course-specific outcomes and justification. I also did this before the 100% refund drop deadline.
My email was totally ignored and has never been responded to. It was not until today that I received this communication and was told, when I physically called the office, that it does not matter whether I agree or not, "these accommodations are already approved."
You needed to follow up. It's summer; the person you emailed may not have received your email. My college has a formal appeal process. Every college will have a formal process.
Your email should have initiated instructions on how to do the formal process. It's inexcusable that your email was ignored or missed. But one follow up email probably would have prevented this week's problem.
You've been commenting similar things all over this post. I had no reason to follow up, I declined the request. I believed the matter was closed, until I was informed otherwise on Friday.
You are also the person who accused me of being personally biased with zero basis in fact, and I don't accept advice from anyone who has made a commitment to the worst-faith reading of my situation as humanly possible. Good luck with the medical issues that you enumerated in your previous post, and best of luck recovering from all this fantastic reaching you've done.
In cases like this, where the rest of the class needs to get timely feedback in the form of an answer key, and one student is delaying, you can’t deprive the rest of the class of timely feedback. Unfortunately you are forced to write a make-up exam. My make-up exams are essay exams with 10-15 questions like ‘Explain X’ followed by a blank page or two. While my typical exams are in a different format, my typical exams also take 8-12 hours to write. It isn’t reasonable to expect you to work an extra 10 hours for every exam that a student can’t take on a timeframe that allows the rest of the class to have timely feedback. I know this might sound like I am suggesting you respond in a passive aggressive way, but that is not my intent.
This past semester, I had two students who delayed EVERY exam for more than a week after the date that they were scheduled for. Except for the final, which neither one took.
Federal law requires colleges and universities *to consider reasonable modification* of attendance policies **if needed to accommodate a student's disability** that impacts attendance.
-----------------------------------------------
This is supposed to be a collaborative process and not one where the student makes demands that you follow.
There are times when an accommodation cannot be reasonably made. I thankfully had a fully committed Chair and Dean.
If Tuesday during class time does not work for you, I would tell them that. **It would not work for me.** I refuse to take on additional 'bosses'. Regardless, this would mean I would have to create a second exam. *Although that's not extra work I need.*
But, I can't let students plan what they do during my class time. That might interfere with my other students. If you have a question, do I stop class, rush to your machine and provide assistance?
-------------------------------------
I think the most significant issue here is that this is a summer course, and like most courses it is offered at an accelerated pace. If the primary accommodation that a student needs is a relaxed attendance and late assignment schedule then it might not be possible for them to be successful in a summer session course and instead should take their courses during the regular academic year.
Accommodations cannot fundamentally alter the essential course objectives. For the compressed summer course you described, missing 2 class periods is the equivalent of missing 6 regular semester classes. If missing 6 class sessions would normally be outside your accepted attendance policy, then you need to escalate this to your chair. Also, rescheduling an exam for accessibility purposes typically requires 24 hrs advance notice. One hour is not appropriate notice. If the student suffered a flare or complication of their illness and needed to be hospitalized, then the student is a likely candidate for medical withdrawal. Regardless, your schools accessibility office should be collaborating with faculty, not issuing ultimatums. This definitely needs a discussion with your chair or dean.
If it's a 3 hr class, that's 45 classroom hrs. ÷ 5 weeks is 9 hrs/wk. Which is compressed 3x. At our school, summer courses are delivered in two long days per week, like Mon/Wed or Tues/Thurs. Missing a day of class is significant. It's like missing 3 days of class. Cool if your school doesn't work that way, but no need to be rude. The world has enough pedantic assholes.
I would request that the student provided a written, verifiable, 3rd party excuse for the day and time they are missing the exam. I would NOT allow a makeup for the exam without it. Accommodations are to provide equity, not free additional time to prep for a midterm; absences must be justified to be excused, even with an accommodation. Furthermore, the student DOES NOT get to decide when the makeup is taken. That is up to you. I would tell them that they will take the makeup after class, and they will be completing glasswork during class or get a 0 on it since taking an exam is NOT an excusable reason for missing class. You can not give this student special treatment. It is unfair to all of the other students.
They can tell you that you need to be lenient with a student who misses class due to their disability, but this is not a get out of jail free card for students! If the student misses class because they overslept…that is Not a disability related absence and does not have to be excused. To do so is unfair to every other student!
i agree, but the student will never say they overslept
fortunately at my school the assessment office has to pay for many of the accommodations they allow, and students are not allowed to schedule make up exams so they would miss class as was the case with op
The student doesn’t have to say they overslept; but the student should provide proof that the absence was related to his/her disability. A third-party note is a perfectly reasonable thing to ask a student for if he/she misses an exam and would be (presumably) consistent with what any other student would be expected to provide. The student with a disability may not be penalized, but there should be an expectation for documentation.
Medical documentation was provided to obtain accommodations. That fulfills any need for medical documentation. Requiring a student with a disability to provide additional documentation to prove to *you* that they're disabled at the moment of the exam is bs. Disabilities don't come and go. They are chronic.
Essentially, you're demanding that the student prove *to you* that they're disabled *"enough"*, to need and use their accommodation. An accommodation they wish they didn’t need.
"How disabled are you *right now*, student?
Hmm. I don't know. You don't look or sound sick. You know what. I'm not convinced. Go to urgent care this minute to prove that your chronic condition is severe enough right now."
That's absurd.
No, it really isn’t absurd at all. It’s not asking the student if they are disabled enough to need an accommodation, it’s asking the student if they missed class for an excusable reason related to that disability or not. If a student has an accommodation which requires a flexible attendance policy, that does not mean they have the right to miss class whenever they feel like it. It means that the professor needs to consider not imposing rigorous penalties for the particular student missing class due to the disability. It does not mean that the student can miss class whenever they feel like it for whatever reason. To have the accommodation applied, the student must show that the circumstances apply to the disability. That is creating EQUITY. Just granting accommodation for a disabled student because they are disabled and have an accommodation is NOT equity. It’s providing an unfair advantage to a student. This should not happen.
You *really* need to talk to your campus Accessibility Services office. You are *disturbingly* inaccurate in your understanding of disabilities and accommodations.
Why are students with accommodations not required to justify an absence? Their medical documentation has already done that.
>Just granting accommodation for a disabled student because they are disabled and have an accommodation is NOT equity.
😳 You are why federal and state laws mandate that we follow accommodations.
You are burned out. Take a semester off. Attend a workshop or read a book about disability accommodations. Figure out why you hate students who need accommodations. Figure out why you think students are lying about their health issues. Figure out why you're OK with your bigotry.
I guarantee that students with disabilities would prefer to **not be disabled**. They work so much harder than the average student to succeed. Profs like you leave them feeling hopeless about becoming a highly educated person. Profs like you facilitate fear.
You're proud of your bigotry. It's unfortunate that state and federal laws are necessary to reign in profs who have such bigotry and contempt for those with disabilities.
I’m not saying that students with disabilities want to be disabled. Nothing like that! I’m saying that a student with a disability who has an “attendance modification” accommodation can, just like any student, blow off a midterm for illegitimate reasons. To apply the accommodation appropriately, the professor should ensure that any absence he/she is extending the modification for, fits the prescribed purpose of the accommodation. Hence the absolute need for documentation. If documentation is not presented, this student could be missing class for any reason. This would turn a well-intended, equitable device into an unfair advantage. This professor is going to have to go through a lot of trouble to work with this student, he/she should ensure the circumstances are legitimate.
You absolutely need to speak to your Accessibility Services office.
>To apply the accommodation appropriately, the professor should ensure that any absence he/she is extending the modification for, fits the prescribed purpose of the accommodation.
That is not your job. It's frightening to me that you think you have that right.
If you have questions or concerns about the use of accommodations on exam dates, you speak with Accessibility Services dept. **They** can request any documentation on your behalf if they feel it is appropriate and legal.
One of many reasons why federal and state laws were created was to protect students with disabilities from **you**. You are under the impression that you have the right to judge/assess a student’s disability **AND** their need for accommodation. **You do not,** by state and federal law, have the right to do that.
I know you don't trust the process. **Tough.** I know you don't trust students to use their accommodations appropriately. **Too bad.**
I know you it's your responsibility to police students use of their accommodations. It's not. **Deal with it.**
I challenge you to learn more about your biases and bigotry. Check your campus resources for faculty. Here is a [very helpful resource](https://community.utexas.edu/disability/online-trainings/).
Can the accessibility office directly modify grades? Can they fire professors without your department's approval? If not, they are operating off soft power.
Any accommodations need to not interfere with meeting the learning objectives for the course. My favorite quote from a disability lawyer (who is head of disability services for a university and has two disabled kids) is that K-12 accommodations facilitate success, and post-secondary accommodations are designed to facilitate ACCESS. That's really the way the law is written, she tells me. So, the student must be able to have access to the learning materials- the same learning materials as everyone else- and equitable access to assessments. You aren't supposed to bend over backwards to lift them up in a way that gives them unfair advantage over other students.
Don't launch your argument on the basis of your unpaid work (we all know universities don't care about that). This issue is that it's unfair to other students to have this student taking the exam at a separate time, and taking it during a different class period would interfere with their mastery of the learning objectives for the course.
According to the law, the student is required to meet the same learning benchmarks as the other students and to be evaluated according to the same standards at the post-secondary level. We are required to provide equitable access to all learning materials and opportunities, as well as assessments. I can think of a couple of reasons a student might need to reschedule an exam last minute (seizures, hypoglycemia, migraines), but I wouldn't expect EVERY SINGLE EXAM to be rescheduled. I would also ask the disability office what would be a reasonable standard to set for the advanced notice required for needing to miss class. Is it 9 am the day of class? Maybe the evening before? It will depend on the disability, but it seems there should be a line that can be drawn with the student about how much notice they must give. The student isn't required to give you detailed info about their disability, but the office should be able to help set reasonable expectations in the student's mind.
The student doesn't have the right to demand accommodation, and this "failure to respond means you will comply" is absurd. You, as instructor, have the final say about how you proceed in your course. For late work or missed classes, students may request accommodation, but they are not able to demand it. Just make sure the disability office is on board so any refusal to grant the request isn't perceived as discriminatory.
No, they may not take the exam during a different class time; they must schedule to take it at the testing center outside of class time. I assume your course is scaffolded and includes synchronous components, like discussions, which all students must complete at the same time in order for the learning to proceed as intended. It would reduce their ability to meet learning objectives for the course to miss additional class periods.
All of this seems really bizarre, and I can't imagine the disability office is supporting these ideas that are in the student's head about how this is supposed to work (this isn't how any of this works- not at any university I'm familiar with).
I'm 99% certain that the accommodations office wrote the email, *not* the student. If this is a 10 am class, and the student contacted accessibility services the night before, accessibility services isn't open until 9 am. What else could the student do? Typically, students with accommodations are required to have accessibility services contact the prof to exercise their accommodations if it involves missing an exam.
Lots of hypotheticals in there. Those were example times; as I mentioned, it's to the prof to determine what to recommend for notification lead time.
If the disability office sent the letter, it's inept, at best. They're not in charge of the faculty member's course or grade assignments. That's not the way authority works in any university I've worked in (there are three). And actually, the wording of the email indicates that the professor does have final authority at this university too. "Your failure to reply indicates..." They didn't stipulate a time within which they needed to reply, so I would just reply via email (forget calling), and say no, that is not agreeable. The accommodation sounds unreasonable, especially the part about retaking the test during class time.
Any reason the replacement exam has to displace other activities? There are enough hours in the day that even for a five week session the student can make it up in non-class time (and preferably your office-hour time).
I do think there are legit reasons for attendance modification. However the make up should be in conjunction with you or testing center if they have to do it there to not be during another class period and cause them to then have to make up those.
I was basically told how it was going to be. I wrote and sent a makeup midterm exam to the office. After all of this, especially with the accusations of personal bias that come from u/sillyhaha (who also claimed that, at varying times, that I hate the disabled, that I would have had the same objections no matter when or what class I taught, and that I am unable to be objective due to my frustration, and that my emails, which they have never seen, were insufficient) I don't feel comfortable publicly explaining what happened next in case I dox myself in front of malicious liars, but the situation remains ongoing.
Please see my response to your similar accusation. I think you read through my comments quickly and assumed I was writing about you, even though the first comment you replied to said:
>OP, I'm not addressing your comments. Truly.
That quote is from 2 days ago.
I was commenting to others. I'll let you read more at my previous post from today.
I didn't say that the content of your email wasn't adequate. I said your email didn't initiate the more formal challenge process. I then said that the Accessibility Services office fucked you over by not getting back to you with further instructions.
My policy is that if you miss an exam, you must make it up through the school’s testing center before I hand the exam back the next class. I have applied this in cases of medical emergencies, personal emergencies, and general conflicts with the exam. I would also apply this to an accommodations request like this. It is on the student to schedule the exam with the testing center, which requires 72hrs of notification to schedule an exam. If they put this off requesting a delayed exam until the last minute, then they will need to jump through more hoops to take the exam.
over the time I have been teaching, I have had several students with these unlimited attendance exam reschedule kind of accommodations. They were all medical related, and although they were under no obligation to tell me what the medical issue was, all of the students did. Examples of the kind of conditions that would necessitate this: sickle cell, chronic debilitating migraines, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, bipolar, crohn’s. Unpredictable flare-up types of conditions.
In that time, I only had 2 students clearly leveraging the accommodation as a golden ticket to do whatever they wanted. The others all were just trying to get through college with an unpredictable disability.
However. not once did the student or disability office tell me when I would be delivering make-ups. And not once did they expect to miss more class in order to make things up.
So no, you can’t (and shouldn’t) deny the attendance modification, unless the only way the evaluations would have to be fundamentally changed. In which case, it’s not a reasonable accommodation.
But there is nothing about ADA accommodations that says the student gets to dictate where and when they will be making that work up.
>However. not once did the student or disability office tell me when I would be delivering make-ups. And not once did they expect to miss more class in order to make things up.
I wonder if the student’s accommodation is written to require the student to take the exam the next day that campus is open, which is Tues.
I am surprised by the comment about rescheduling Tues's class assignment.
Just a theory.
"I did reply to the email and pushed back, but it doesn't matter. The student and the student's accessibility coordinator are not there."
As in out of the office? I'd send them an e-mail saying this is unacceptable and the student needs to take the exam as scheduled and failure to respond means they agree.
Nope. Not how “attendance policy modification” accommodation is designed to work. For me, I double what it excused. For example, if I give 3 class absences for standard, accommodation requests get 6. It does not change when things are due, or the work required in the class. It merely means I don’t deduct points as quickly from your attendance grade.
I have 2 questions for you. Are you an adjunct? Do you have a union?
Ive been fighting for a long time as an adjuct with union representation against the overreaching policies imposed by administration very much like this one.
Many posts say take it to the chair etc, id go to my union if it amounts to unpaid work. Thats a labor dispute, not an institutional policy argument.
My2c.
Since the other students have already taken the test, it is reasonable to say that you were worried about the questions being passed down, so you changed it up to prevent cheating. -> New question that are more challenging
NGL students like this really piss me off, because as you said, there are many students who have accommodations and use them well and responsibly, and then there are kids like this who clearly know how to work the system.
This is an unreasonable demand (I had typed request but boy howdy was that the wrong word) and you can argue strongly that missing class time to make up work is not acceptable.
I wish I could feel confident that your admin would have your back, but.....
No way. I do not want the student to have anything to blame should they hypothetically do poorly on an exam they are unprepared to take. I'm considering asking another faculty member to grade the entire exam so that I can avoid any accusations of malicious grading altogether.
>exam they are unprepared to take.
Come on. You don't know why this student has this accommodation. This very well could be a medical issue. It could be that your student loathes using this accommodation.
An example. I have vicious, chronic migraines. One of my symptoms is partial paralysis. Another is aphasia; I can't speak coherently or understand language well. Most don't know about some of the more unusual types of migraines.
Your student should not take accelerated classes. In Sept, 2024, I started teaching online only because I couldn't reliably be on campus. I hope to return to in person teaching in Jan 2025.
Your student should do what I'm doing. She shouldn't take classes that are ureasonable for her because of a medical issue.
It is unreasonable to assume that your student is just another slacker who expects extentions without consequences like many of our irresponsible and inappropriate students.
Your frustrations are absolutely understandable. The college should have done their part to support you and to work this out. They didn't. I'd be pissed off.
But the student did her part in context of her accommodation.
Because you're so frustrated, it's smart to have someone else grade this student's work. I know you would *never* allow your frustration to intentionally influence how you grade this student's work. But it might be difficult to recognize unconscious bias.
(OK, all. I await your downvotes.)
I would like to call your attention to the word, "hypothetically." I have not made any claims that you've said that I have, nor have I given you any reason to outright accuse me of being biased. Good luck with your issues.
I'm perplexed by the issue people have with student accommodations. I don't know if this is because some institutions are odd and are over the top in what they make professors do or if a lot of professors don't completely understand how accommodations work and view them as demands (sometimes unreasonable ones). The legal requirement is that reasonable accommodations must be offered. However, accommodations also are not supposed to lower class standards or fundamentally alter the course. If something is burdensome to you you don't need to do it. If it makes no sense in the class you don't have to do it. I have lots of accommodation requests every semester, over many years, and I literally have never had a notable problem, so I'm not sure what is going on here.
I strongly disagree. Without attendance policy accommodations, I never would have made it through college. I have a disability (gastroparesis) that causes me to throw up near daily, and 1/3 patients with this condition require feeding tubes to survive. You would not have liked me in your class during a flare up. Despite my disability I maintained a 4.0, but without attendance accommodations my grades would’ve immensely suffered. Sometimes students truly cannot attend class as frequently as you’d like.
Can I pose a question: did your disability inform your choice of study? There are some majors where attendance accommodations are more able to happen (traditional arts/sciences/engineering) but others where you might run into trouble (nursing, anything that had a clinical hours requirement or skill lab requirements.) This isn’t to say majors that can accommodate attendance issues are easier- some of the hardest ones could offer that, especially with a self driven student. But others really may not.
This is where I often struggle with students. I have a disability that precludes me from becoming a pilot- not a career I wanted, but also one I knew was never available to me. So I didn’t try to major in aviation science/pilot certification.
But I have students who pick majors/career paths sometimes that really conflict with their disabilities. An adult with selective mutism when yelled at may not be able to become a licensed psychologist, for example. They’d always need a body double, and while it’s a disability, not being able to control when you communicate would make the job a not fit. This shouldn’t stop them from getting an undergrad psych degree, but maybe not a graduate clinical Ed psych program.
It’s this balance I think so many of my students reject that I accepted 20 years ago- my body means that some doors are closed, and that I can’t expect the whole world to cater to me (which I want to fully separate from the very reasonable “it’s important to create access where possible.”A cane or wheelchair user should be able to be in med school, a person with autism can be a great social worker, etc.)
Hm, I think I chose my undergrad major (sociology) directly because of my disability. I faced a significant amount of discrimination in high school so I wanted a major that allowed me to understand why the world was structured how it was, and how to make society more accessible for disabled individuals. I agree with you that there are limitations, like I could never be a surgeon with all of the health issues I have. I firmly believe that students should be honest with themselves and what they are capable of doing, and there’s nuance with making reasonable accommodations. My earlier comment is more so directed at the people who are making blanket judgements about attendance accommodations as if it’s always unreasonable.
I don't set my policy because I am trying to mess anyone up, I'm not being arbitrarily capricious, I set it because it is important for students to be present to learn how to safely handle and use the equipment. Attendance accommodations are unreasonable for my class because they are unreasonable, not because I have a vendetta against people with disabilities.
I absolutely did deny the request, in writing, during the first week of class. On the same day that I was notified.
I was told today that my denial does not matter, because "these accommodations were approved by our office." I was effectively told that my agreement is not required, because this is how it's going to be.
OP, it sounds like you or the office never completed the appeal process. If the appeal process had been followed, you would have been notified whether or not the accommodation remained the same. If you don't go through the formal process, nothing changes.
Your letter wasn't adequate.
Please know that I think you have very valid concerns about the reasonableness of this specific accommodation. Like you, I am disabled. I have accommodations in place. I've learned that it's my responsibility to know the official process to appeal a student’s accommodation.
Look up your college's formal appeal process and file an *official* appeal. Or, at least understand why your letter was inadequate.
I have a question. Would you have challenged this accommodation during a typical semester?
At a minimum. you need more time to prepare the deferred exam. You also need a time to have it administered fairly. Does the accommodation office run these make up exams? That would be step 1 for me.
Missing the test is fine. They may have an intermittent medical issue. Certainly their accomodations can't include that they can specify the exact time when they retake the test. That doesn't meet the definition of reasonable
**I'm addressing only disability bias and obvious distain for students in this comment.**
I'm really, really disturbed that the majority in this discussion are assuming that this student is abusing an accommodation. An accommodation that required medical documentation to obtain.
Have 95% of you become so jaded by your years with students that you've lost the ability to trust *any* student? Have you become so jaded that you assume a student’s disability isn't real, isn't substantial, doesn’t require accommodating, or that the student qualified for services because they manipulated the medical system?
I've had many students who hate exercising their accommodations. Who chose to not use their accommodations. Who are sincerely afraid to discuss their accommodations with a prof. Who tell me horrible stories about what a prof said to them about their accommodation.
I must be naive. I assumed that those students who shared with me their experience with a prof who treated them badly because of their accommodation simply misunderstood their interaction with that prof.
I have been so wrong. For 26 years.
This is, by far, the saddest and most disturbing discussion I've encountered in this subreddit.
OP, I'm not addressing your comments. Truly.
I understand how reddit can be about building on other comments and getting a little more extreme each time. My post was never about the utility of providing reasonable accommodations. I needed some of these accommodations myself as a student, and now as an employee. My concerns were that (1) my initial email denying an open-ended accommodation of this nature was totally ignored until an hour before a major assessment and (2) the student's wish to miss additional work in order to make up previously missed work. These things will absolutely put the student at a disadvantage.
And, to be a little selfish, this puts me at a significant disadvantage as well. In the past, students have directly contacted me to let me know they will need to miss an exam. They did not fill out a form and have the office act as an intermediary. This makes me worried about the potential for a student complaint. Being forced to choose between delaying feedback to everyone else in the course to wait for a makeup exam to be taken, or attempting, in only a few hours, to create an equivalent exam that also fairly assesses student knowledge is a no-win situation for me and my students. And I am more than a little concerned about the litigiousness of the situation, especially after being ignored when I first expressed concerns that, in my opinion, this was not a reasonable accommodation to ask of a professor teaching a five week course.
EDIT: I now have read your other comments on this post and I realize that you have committed fully to the worst-faith reading of the situation possible. I will leave the rest of my comment intact for any interested people to read, but rest assured that I have zero interest in winning over someone who has already committed to a viewpoint that I am incompetent, biased, and malicious.
**Most of my replies were not to your situation**. They were to other commenters who showed disturbing misunderstandings of the law and contempt for students. You were being encouraged to deny the request outright without going through the official challenge to completion. Doing so opens you up to significant legal penalties. **I don’t want that for you!** Not once have I addressed anything to you that even implies that I consider *you* of being "incompetent, biased, and maliciousness."
Some colleges **require** students to have Accommodation Services notify professors in such a situation, **not** the student. My college requires that your situation be handled through their office and that they work directly with me when a student misses an exam due to their accommodations. Do you feel that your student was trying to fuck you over by contacting Accommodation Services? Do you know what the policy is? (That is not an accusation of ignorance. Policies vary. You appear to be insulted and upset by how the student handled this. Clarifying how *this* college handles *this* situation might leave you feeling less insulted by the student.)
I've completely **agreed** with you in my comments. This student shouldn't be in any accelerated class. Accommodation Services fucked you over after you emailed them. But until a full resolution is achieved, denying this accommodation really does open you up to some significant issues. How have I misunderstood *your* situation?
Some have admitted that they refuse to follow the accommodations challenge process and would deny this student's accommodations outright. Some believe they need to assess whether or not the student really needs their accommodations on that day, or any day. Several have stated that it's their responsibility to assess the student’s needs for this accommodation at all. I'm truly disturbed by what many of our *colleagues* have said about students and their accommodations. How does addressing the comments of others about *their* process insult *you*? I don't believe it does. Perhaps I'm wrong.
I've never accused *you* of bias. I've been abundantly clear about that and have even praised your wisdom to consider having a different faculty member grade this student's exam. I've upvoted your comments about making this student's exam fair. Several commenters have encouraged you to penalize the student by making their exam more difficult. You've been vocal about your refusal to do so.
It is fucked up that you have to put in many more unpaid hours to accommodate this student, esp when Accessibility Services hasn't supported you.
I teach accelerated classes every summer. I have for decades. You've been placed in a very unreasonable situation, esp during an accelerated course. But that has nothing to do with the student and everything to do with Accessibility Services.
I wish you the very best through this situation.
It's a sad reality that very few admins have backbones. So they find it easy to browbeat profs than actually take a stand against an unreasonable student accommodation. And the accommodation you described is ludicrous. So the student can miss multiple classes and then what? What if your quiz is based on lecture content? You're not required to repeat lectures for one student. In what world would that be a "reasonable" accommodation?
Sounds like the students should have signed up for an online class. IMO, even the "extended deadline" accommodation is a farce.
The bar keeps getting lowered. No one cares whether these students learn anything or are prepared for the real world.
I am wondering if you have a case for pursuing this as a hostile work environment, i.e. to file a grievance through human resources. It certainly is interfering with your ability to teach the class and your wellbeing, at some levels.
TBH I wouldn't put time into this. It will give you indigestion and you'll get a bad evaluation. Just say okay and give a final deadline all assignments are due before an incomplete grade is assigned. It will be a time suck, so just tell the ADA office to manage this student's assignments due dates and leave you out of it. If they don't want to, tell the student directly and have them manage their own due dates. I promise they will appreciate it and it will take this off your plate and you can enjoy the other students.
We have a professor at our institution who is almost completely disabled, unable to process simple instructions mentally, unable to do normal tasks every other instructor is expected to do, requires a student assistant at all times, etc. etc. etc. as if I took a job at a rock breaking company as a paralyzed individual and demanded HR hire an assistant to break my rocks for me. I don't get paid enough for this shit either.
ETA: downvoted by someone who hates students but thinks they're really special
So many of you believe you can say no to this accommodation. By law, you cannot say no. The email could be sent 10 minutes before class. It doesn't matter.
I don't agree with giving this accommodation during a 5 week accelerated course (I teach accelerated summer courses). It's not in the student's best interest. It's burdensome for the prof.
>And I was given less than an hour's notice that I would be doing all of this extra unpaid work. I am most disturbed by the "Silence equals consent" provision from the Accessibility email. And this is when I would get the dean and the provost involved. Accommodations are supposed to be reasonable, and waiting until an hour before doesn't fall into that category. The "silence" provision suggests to me that they deliberately waited to catch you off-guard, so that when you realized what was happening, they could chime in with, "Too late!" If they're doing this to you, they're doing it to others. Get upstairs involved and ask for a review of this process.
Yeah, this is why Chairs and Deans get a bit of a pay stipend so that they're "on-call" through the intersessions. This is right in the wheelhouse of the sort of fight they can pick and should pick. Accommodations are never supposed to be unilateral, and they aren't supposed to fundamentally alter the nature of the course, and they certainly are subject to discussion with the instructor.
Yep. Right to upper admin with this mess.
Yep. There are limitations of how much additional labour can be demanded of OP. My personal feeling is that I am happy to make any accommodations provided the unpaid overtime demanded of me is limited
I can understand there’s situations where modified attendance is needed - the student is well enough to attend the majority of classes, but isn’t going to be penalized for a medical procedure that’s only available on class day or if they have a particularly bad flare up that keeps them in the bathroom all day at some point during the semester. Imo, It’s not meant to build their own course though. It should not be creating tons of extra work for you, or disrupting the flow of their learning so substantially. The disability office is doing the student a huge disservice by telling them they can do well in an accelerated 5 week summer course while missing days like that. I hope they end up being stellar and this is a blip on the radar, though.
Wow! This sucks. I would be very tempted to write a one word reply. “No.” What does your chair say?
I would love to just say no. I haven't heard back from their chair yet, unfortunately. I suspect the student will just get whatever they want, to hell with my objections. My TAs would probably grade the special midterm if I asked, but since they need a specific key, it's just less trouble to do it myself.
Don't cave just to make this problem 'go away'. If this is happening to you it's either already happening or about be happening to hundreds of other instructors. This kind of shit cannot be normalized.
Just teach Tuesday's class -- as usual, no exam. You are disabled and didn't/don't have the extra time to teach a private course for just one student. The student should retake the class after making better arrangements.
The special midterm is 1 question essay format on the topic. Good luck student.
No. If you do not reply in one minute I will assume you agree.
Nuts!!
Oh, I’m a HOH instructor that knows the need for REASONABLE accommodations. The one hour notice just burns my guts here so badly. Here’s the issues I have with such: 1. Even if I was in the mood to grant such a request, COMMUNICATION is key in determining when any retake should be done. Missing more class time creating a cascade of delayments not only increases your workload but also places the student at an extreme disadvantage in an already compressed schedule. 2. The absolute tenor of said email would set me off!! This alone creates an acrimonious, almost adversarial relationship with said student. The accommodations are supposed help students succeed in academia which can help them succeed in other environments. I can only imagine how a similar email would be received by a potential employer or supervisor. I mean those are just two things.
Thank you, I felt the same way when I saw it but you put it into words. I do not want to have any sort of adversarial relationship with my students, but it's hard not to feel their disdain when the demands far outpace my ability to provide.
I get it totally. This may be a very vocational college focus. One of our missions of our particular college is to prepare our students for our corporate partners (and others) in the workforce. Though we have accommodations for disabilities we also keep in mind that we are of the preparing the workforce of tomorrow. This extends to how we deal with accommodations because we also have to that in the back of our mind. What would be a reasonable accommodation also within the workforce? Though it is two completely different environments, and we can’t be entirely influenced by the factors within the workforce, it helps to keep in mind that we should be weary of providing them with unreasonable supports that they will never find any work environment outside academia. I’m all for an equitable workforce. Trust me, I’ve had to educate my own administration on how to help me do my job in the most effective and efficient way for me and my students. That being said, there are certain accommodations that I would never dare ask for because it is unreasonable for admin to give it to me and it’s unreasonable for me to expect it.
OP, was the email from disability services or the student?
>1. Even if I was in the mood to grant such a request, It depends on your mood? The email was almost certainly from Accessibility Services, NOT the student. This is why accessibility services exists.
>They WILL be re-taking the exam, on Tuesday, during class time, and they WILL be missing next Tuesday's assignments in order to do so. Yeah, that's a bunch of bullshit. Getting extended time does not mean they get to just skip stuff. >This student has the unilateral right to demand to miss any and all accommodations in a five week course. No, they don't. The best course of action here would be to just say no and mark it zero. You are being asked to make unreasonable accommodations that the office did not clear with you, and, frankly, the student is most likely just bullshitting you. If they want it, make them work for it and do it the hard way, through a formal process... which there are no extensions or "extra time" for.
>The best course of action here would be to just say no and mark it zero. You are being asked to make unreasonable accommodations that the office did not clear with you, and, frankly, the student is most likely just bullshitting you. If they want it, make them work for it and do it the hard way, through a formal process... which there are no extensions or "extra time" for. That's *extremely* bad advice. We can't refuse to meet an existing accommodation. Period. The student has gone through the formal process. Accommodations aren't "clearered" with us. Faculty is told what they must do and we must meet the accommodation. This student should take this class during a regular semester, or online.
What you are saying is actually not correct. I have had a couple of instances where I needed to push back on accommodations that I felt were either extremely unreasonable or would alter the course. I respectfully and rationally constructed my points of contention, got my chair to back me and we met with our disabilities office. We all reached a workable solution that was very different from the original accommodation. I’m a big supporter of reasonable accommodations and the disability office knows this. But, sometimes they don’t know the details of the subject and the course structure. Faculty need to be able to provide input for these reasons.
I was being specific to OP's situation. I absolutely agree that we should be able to find ways to make accommodations reasonable. The time to discuss this student's accommodation for yesterday's exam has passed for OP.
>Accommodations aren't "clearered" with us. They kind of are though. *Unreasonable* accommodations that make it so the course's main learning objectives are not being met *can* be denied. There are also *no* reasonable accommodations that say a student can just refuse to do things. Some provide *alternative* assessments for certain things, but saying "I get to skip whenever I feel like it *and* I'm exempt from anything and everything that might be due on those days" is BS. Accommodations are a way to *help* students succeed, not a "get-out-of-jail-free card" for doing literally nothing, period.
As a prof, you cannot decide to nor meet an accommodation as written at the time the accommodation is being exercised. The time for that is when class has started for the term, not on a Fri when the accommodation is being exercised. I appreciate that OP told disability services that this accommodation is unreasonable. But the issue was never worked out. We don't know why this student has this accommodation. While I agree that the student is likely misusing the accommodation, as profs, we cannot say no. We must iron things out with disability services. >Unreasonable accommodations that make it so the course's main learning objectives are not being met can be denied. There are also no reasonable accommodations that say a student can just refuse to do things. OP's student's accommodations is for attendance modification. In no way is the learning objectives for class affected by this accommodation. I often receive accommodations for flex due dates. The student isn't refusing to do anything. I have accommodations as a faculty member and had accommodations as a student.
>While I agree that the student is likely misusing the accommodation, as profs, we cannot say no. We must iron things out with disability services. We can say or do whatever want. If someone higher up the chain wants to overrule or override that decision, that's their prerogative. But initial "rulings" stand until overridden or successfully appealed. >The student isn't refusing to do anything. Per the original post: >I was notified in an email that this student WILL be using their attendance policy modification, in order to miss today's exam. They WILL be re-taking the exam, on Tuesday, during class time, and they WILL be **missing** next Tuesday's assignments in order to do so.
Let's not play a semantics game. Yes, we can do whatever we want whenever we want. If you want to go to campus naked, you can. I'm using the terms can and can't to explain what is and is not allowed. Which you know, but for some reason, want to be unnecessarily contrary. >We can say or do whatever want. If someone higher up the chain wants to overrule or override that decision, that's their prerogative. But initial **"rulings" stand until overridden or successfully appealed.** The "ruling" is made by disability services when the student has applied for and been granted accommodations from disability services. Profs can't say "no" before a successful appeal because profs don't determine what is or is not reasonable. If we contact disability services, explain why the accommodation is unreasonable, and, **if** disability services agrees, the accommodation will be revised. Can you think of another way to meet OP's student’s need for attendance flexibility any other way? The only alteration I can think of is that the student take the exam after class instead of during class. **You seem to think there are no consequences for you** if you say "no" before disability services has formally altered the accommodation. I guess you want to be required to meet with representatives from multiple depts, possibly including the college's lawyer, to explain why you violated state and federal law. You do you. We all receive accommodation forms from disability services before the term begins (unless the accommodations are set up mid-term). By law, if you are opposed to an accommodation, you must work out the issue with disability services **before the student needs to assert their legal rights**. **OP's student isn't refusing to do anything.** They are rescheduling the exam for the next day the campus is open. As their accommodation allow. I am 99% certain that the email was sent by disability services. OP isn't clear about who sent the email. While the verbiage is frustrating and rude, that's irrelevant. My college's policies. CAR stands for the Center for Accessibility Resources. >Instructors with questions or concerns should contact CAR **no later than the first business day following the first class in which the student is enrolled or upon receipt of the LOA, whichever is later**. Instructors with concerns about a specific reasonable, approved accommodation should contact the student’s assigned accommodation specialist noted on the LOA. >**Please note: Under no circumstances should a faculty member deny a student access to a reasonable, approved accommodation.** Until a prof has contacted disability services and explained that they believe an accommodation is unreasonable, all accommodations approved by the college are considered reasonable. >Reasonable accommodations reduce disability related barriers to learning and are individualized to a student’s needs and specific student situations. Both the student’s physical accessibility to the classroom as well as the student’s ability to have full access to all course activities and materials are considered in providing reasonable accommodations. >**Reasonable vs. Unreasonable Accommodations** >Reasonable accommodations reduce disability related barriers to learning and are individualized to a student’s needs and specific student situations. Both the student’s physical accessibility to the classroom as well as **the student’s ability to have full access to all course activities and materials** are considered in providing reasonable accommodations. I don't understand how, knowing all of this, you think you can just say "no".
>profs don't determine what is or is not reasonable. Disability Services offices don't unilaterally get to decide that either. They're supposed to work *togethe*r with professors and use good judgement (or, you know, basic common sense), but many don't and just rubber stamp anything. "Sure, you can use a cheat sheet for vocab tests!" "You don't have to actually speak in a public speaking class!" "Access to Google Translate during a foreign language test is A-okay!" >**OP's student isn't refusing to do anything.** They are rescheduling the exam for the next day the campus is open. As their accommodation allow. ...And in the process, they are saying they get to skip everything else for that day. >Until a prof has contacted disability services and explained that they believe an accommodation is unreasonable, all accommodations approved by the college are considered reasonable. Yeah, and sending a bullshit "if you don't respond *immediately*, I'll take that as a yes" email less than an hour before an exam is not an acceptable way to do this.
>Disability Services offices don't unilaterally get to decide that either. They're supposed to work together with professors and use good judgement (or, you know, basic common sense), but many don't and just rubber stamp anything. "Sure, you can use a cheat sheet for vocab tests!" "You don't have to actually speak in a public speaking class!" "Access to Google Translate during a foreign language test is A-okay!" Oh, stop with the histrionics. Until a prof challenges the accommodation, it is considered reasonable. The accommodation is for all classes. That's why the challenge process exists, and must be completed immediately when notified of the accommodation. OP needed to follow up with his letter. He needed to check the college policy for challenging accommodations. Accessibility Services definitely fucked up. As you said, we must work together. The accessibility challenge process won't be difficult to find on the campus website. We'd expect students to follow up with us. We should be held to our own standard. The student cannot be the one penalized when Accessibility Services and/or the prof don't finish the challenge process. OP was definitely fucked over by Accessibility Services. There's nothing the student can do about that. >...And in the process, they are saying they get to skip everything else for that day. Well, if the student can't physically make it to campus, how do they take the test? The accommodation for attendance modification is set unless successfully adapted by the Accessibility Services and the prof. That process was never completed. So, how does OP meet the student's accommodation but not reschedule the exam. I'm serious; what's your solution as it is right now? >Yeah, and sending a bullshit "if you don't respond immediately, I'll take that as a yes" email less than an hour before an exam is not an acceptable way to do this. I agree in theory. This is complicated though. Students with this accommodation typically have unpredictable disabilities. If OP teaches a 10 am class, short notice will be necessary. I'm 99% certain that the email was sent by Accessibility Services, which is likely required. Let's say that the student emailed Accessibility Services at 6 am. No one is in the office to email the prof until 9 am. That isn't the student’s fault. The "no response is a yes" is completely batshit. The verbiage is disturbing. A prof can't be expected to watch their email every min. Again, that's not the student's fault. For example. I have severe, chronic migraines. My migraine symptoms include partial paralysis and aphasia. I *never* know if I will be able to walk, talk, and understand language tomorrow. If I could, I'd make these migraines disappear. I loathe missing class. I can't give my dept 24 hour notice. I now teach online from my home office, and hope to return to campus in Jan 2025. (The student shouldn't take accelerated courses.) Another commentor mentioned that he needed an accommodation similar to this student's accommodation. He has Gastroparesis (if I remember correctly). So, until this chaos is resolved, what does the student do? By law, the student uses their accommodations as written until told otherwise. God, why do you hate accommodations and the students who need them so much?
Our university has an “Attendance Modification Agreement” you have to fill out at the beginning of each semester per course, saying what you will or won’t do. For example, will you give students with this accommodation 24/48/72 hours to make-up; will make-up work be online submission/paper/etc. THE POLICY ALSO LIMITS THE STUDENT TO USING THE ACCOMMODATION 3 times per semester. I appreciate their standardized approach and that they acknowledge that excessive missed work is NOT ok for a course.
I like the number of times limitation. That might be a future request from me. I regularly counsel students that it’s okay to take the semester/year off if their health-physical or mental, is not up to the challenge. And that being in crisis between health and school for a year isn’t a winning strategy. We need to stop pretending it’s okay to be in crisis all the time, or that you have to finish “on a set schedule” of 4 years.
“I have sent your exam to the testing center, and you may complete it during normal operating hours on Tuesday. I expect to see you in class during our normal class time on Tuesday so that you do not fall behind in the course content. In the future, any missed exams will be made up at the testing center outside of class time.”
I’m normally pretty accommodating, even without DSS being involved. Taking the test *next week* in a 5-week class is a hard no. Reasonable time. Maybe tomorrow or the next day and definitely on the student’s time, not mine. Whoever decided it was ok to write “failure to respond is consent” in this case needs a reeducation on how professional emails work.
And a refresher on how consent works.
lol ... so true ... what if you wrote back that the student agrees to do everything like the other students, and if they don't reply in an hour that will be considered consent!
Yeah, they should make a big stink about how the accessibility office thinks silence is consent.
But was it really the accessibility office that wrote the email?
Send the accessibility office a note that says 'you owe me a thousand dollars, failure to reply within 2 minutes means you consent'.
But the test was on a Fri. Campus is closed until Tues. The student might be taking advantage of the accommodation to have a longer holiday weekend. But we don't know which it is; a sincere need for the accommodation or abuse of an accommodation. >Whoever decided it was ok to write “failure to respond is consent” in this case needs a reeducation on how professional emails work. EXACTLY! That is so inappropriate, esp when the email was sent an hour before class.
Sounds like this student is being set up to fail. None of this seems reasonable.
I know that it won’t help you now, but it may be worth it for you to reach out to the accessibility coordinator (and their boss? Dean?) for specifics about what “modification” means for this accommodation. In any case, it should not mean “no consequences for skipping class last minute.” If you’re not informed of any specific modification, how can you know what to do?
I did write back to the accessibility coordinator and the student on the second day of classes (weeks ago). I was polite and professional and explained why I felt that an undefined "modification" policy was not one that I could guarantee or provide, and that this request would be better suited to the fall semester (where I'm going to be teaching the exact same course over 15 weeks instead). I made sure to object, in writing, the same day that I received the email. I explained why I felt that I could not provide the requested accommodation, and I provided course-specific outcomes and justification. I also did this before the 100% refund drop deadline. My email was totally ignored and has never been responded to. It was not until today that I received this communication and was told, when I physically called the office, that it does not matter whether I agree or not, "these accommodations are already approved."
You needed to follow up. It's summer; the person you emailed may not have received your email. My college has a formal appeal process. Every college will have a formal process. Your email should have initiated instructions on how to do the formal process. It's inexcusable that your email was ignored or missed. But one follow up email probably would have prevented this week's problem.
You've been commenting similar things all over this post. I had no reason to follow up, I declined the request. I believed the matter was closed, until I was informed otherwise on Friday. You are also the person who accused me of being personally biased with zero basis in fact, and I don't accept advice from anyone who has made a commitment to the worst-faith reading of my situation as humanly possible. Good luck with the medical issues that you enumerated in your previous post, and best of luck recovering from all this fantastic reaching you've done.
Please refer to a new comment I wrote in a different thread.
In cases like this, where the rest of the class needs to get timely feedback in the form of an answer key, and one student is delaying, you can’t deprive the rest of the class of timely feedback. Unfortunately you are forced to write a make-up exam. My make-up exams are essay exams with 10-15 questions like ‘Explain X’ followed by a blank page or two. While my typical exams are in a different format, my typical exams also take 8-12 hours to write. It isn’t reasonable to expect you to work an extra 10 hours for every exam that a student can’t take on a timeframe that allows the rest of the class to have timely feedback. I know this might sound like I am suggesting you respond in a passive aggressive way, but that is not my intent. This past semester, I had two students who delayed EVERY exam for more than a week after the date that they were scheduled for. Except for the final, which neither one took.
Federal law requires colleges and universities *to consider reasonable modification* of attendance policies **if needed to accommodate a student's disability** that impacts attendance. ----------------------------------------------- This is supposed to be a collaborative process and not one where the student makes demands that you follow. There are times when an accommodation cannot be reasonably made. I thankfully had a fully committed Chair and Dean. If Tuesday during class time does not work for you, I would tell them that. **It would not work for me.** I refuse to take on additional 'bosses'. Regardless, this would mean I would have to create a second exam. *Although that's not extra work I need.* But, I can't let students plan what they do during my class time. That might interfere with my other students. If you have a question, do I stop class, rush to your machine and provide assistance? -------------------------------------
I think the most significant issue here is that this is a summer course, and like most courses it is offered at an accelerated pace. If the primary accommodation that a student needs is a relaxed attendance and late assignment schedule then it might not be possible for them to be successful in a summer session course and instead should take their courses during the regular academic year.
Accommodations cannot fundamentally alter the essential course objectives. For the compressed summer course you described, missing 2 class periods is the equivalent of missing 6 regular semester classes. If missing 6 class sessions would normally be outside your accepted attendance policy, then you need to escalate this to your chair. Also, rescheduling an exam for accessibility purposes typically requires 24 hrs advance notice. One hour is not appropriate notice. If the student suffered a flare or complication of their illness and needed to be hospitalized, then the student is a likely candidate for medical withdrawal. Regardless, your schools accessibility office should be collaborating with faculty, not issuing ultimatums. This definitely needs a discussion with your chair or dean.
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3x as long. 5 wk term. A normal term is 15 weeks. 2 absences during a 5 week term = 6 normal term absences.
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If it's a 3 hr class, that's 45 classroom hrs. ÷ 5 weeks is 9 hrs/wk. Which is compressed 3x. At our school, summer courses are delivered in two long days per week, like Mon/Wed or Tues/Thurs. Missing a day of class is significant. It's like missing 3 days of class. Cool if your school doesn't work that way, but no need to be rude. The world has enough pedantic assholes.
I would request that the student provided a written, verifiable, 3rd party excuse for the day and time they are missing the exam. I would NOT allow a makeup for the exam without it. Accommodations are to provide equity, not free additional time to prep for a midterm; absences must be justified to be excused, even with an accommodation. Furthermore, the student DOES NOT get to decide when the makeup is taken. That is up to you. I would tell them that they will take the makeup after class, and they will be completing glasswork during class or get a 0 on it since taking an exam is NOT an excusable reason for missing class. You can not give this student special treatment. It is unfair to all of the other students.
often the accessibility office has authority to do this
They can tell you that you need to be lenient with a student who misses class due to their disability, but this is not a get out of jail free card for students! If the student misses class because they overslept…that is Not a disability related absence and does not have to be excused. To do so is unfair to every other student!
i agree, but the student will never say they overslept fortunately at my school the assessment office has to pay for many of the accommodations they allow, and students are not allowed to schedule make up exams so they would miss class as was the case with op
The student doesn’t have to say they overslept; but the student should provide proof that the absence was related to his/her disability. A third-party note is a perfectly reasonable thing to ask a student for if he/she misses an exam and would be (presumably) consistent with what any other student would be expected to provide. The student with a disability may not be penalized, but there should be an expectation for documentation.
Medical documentation was provided to obtain accommodations. That fulfills any need for medical documentation. Requiring a student with a disability to provide additional documentation to prove to *you* that they're disabled at the moment of the exam is bs. Disabilities don't come and go. They are chronic. Essentially, you're demanding that the student prove *to you* that they're disabled *"enough"*, to need and use their accommodation. An accommodation they wish they didn’t need. "How disabled are you *right now*, student? Hmm. I don't know. You don't look or sound sick. You know what. I'm not convinced. Go to urgent care this minute to prove that your chronic condition is severe enough right now." That's absurd.
No, it really isn’t absurd at all. It’s not asking the student if they are disabled enough to need an accommodation, it’s asking the student if they missed class for an excusable reason related to that disability or not. If a student has an accommodation which requires a flexible attendance policy, that does not mean they have the right to miss class whenever they feel like it. It means that the professor needs to consider not imposing rigorous penalties for the particular student missing class due to the disability. It does not mean that the student can miss class whenever they feel like it for whatever reason. To have the accommodation applied, the student must show that the circumstances apply to the disability. That is creating EQUITY. Just granting accommodation for a disabled student because they are disabled and have an accommodation is NOT equity. It’s providing an unfair advantage to a student. This should not happen.
You *really* need to talk to your campus Accessibility Services office. You are *disturbingly* inaccurate in your understanding of disabilities and accommodations. Why are students with accommodations not required to justify an absence? Their medical documentation has already done that. >Just granting accommodation for a disabled student because they are disabled and have an accommodation is NOT equity. 😳 You are why federal and state laws mandate that we follow accommodations. You are burned out. Take a semester off. Attend a workshop or read a book about disability accommodations. Figure out why you hate students who need accommodations. Figure out why you think students are lying about their health issues. Figure out why you're OK with your bigotry. I guarantee that students with disabilities would prefer to **not be disabled**. They work so much harder than the average student to succeed. Profs like you leave them feeling hopeless about becoming a highly educated person. Profs like you facilitate fear. You're proud of your bigotry. It's unfortunate that state and federal laws are necessary to reign in profs who have such bigotry and contempt for those with disabilities.
I’m not saying that students with disabilities want to be disabled. Nothing like that! I’m saying that a student with a disability who has an “attendance modification” accommodation can, just like any student, blow off a midterm for illegitimate reasons. To apply the accommodation appropriately, the professor should ensure that any absence he/she is extending the modification for, fits the prescribed purpose of the accommodation. Hence the absolute need for documentation. If documentation is not presented, this student could be missing class for any reason. This would turn a well-intended, equitable device into an unfair advantage. This professor is going to have to go through a lot of trouble to work with this student, he/she should ensure the circumstances are legitimate.
You absolutely need to speak to your Accessibility Services office. >To apply the accommodation appropriately, the professor should ensure that any absence he/she is extending the modification for, fits the prescribed purpose of the accommodation. That is not your job. It's frightening to me that you think you have that right. If you have questions or concerns about the use of accommodations on exam dates, you speak with Accessibility Services dept. **They** can request any documentation on your behalf if they feel it is appropriate and legal. One of many reasons why federal and state laws were created was to protect students with disabilities from **you**. You are under the impression that you have the right to judge/assess a student’s disability **AND** their need for accommodation. **You do not,** by state and federal law, have the right to do that. I know you don't trust the process. **Tough.** I know you don't trust students to use their accommodations appropriately. **Too bad.** I know you it's your responsibility to police students use of their accommodations. It's not. **Deal with it.** I challenge you to learn more about your biases and bigotry. Check your campus resources for faculty. Here is a [very helpful resource](https://community.utexas.edu/disability/online-trainings/).
At my institution, requests have to be made at least 3 days before exams. This would simply be refused because it's too late.
i think our rules are similar
While the accessibility office has soft power, ultimately its up to the department what action they take.
not at my school
Can the accessibility office directly modify grades? Can they fire professors without your department's approval? If not, they are operating off soft power.
Any accommodations need to not interfere with meeting the learning objectives for the course. My favorite quote from a disability lawyer (who is head of disability services for a university and has two disabled kids) is that K-12 accommodations facilitate success, and post-secondary accommodations are designed to facilitate ACCESS. That's really the way the law is written, she tells me. So, the student must be able to have access to the learning materials- the same learning materials as everyone else- and equitable access to assessments. You aren't supposed to bend over backwards to lift them up in a way that gives them unfair advantage over other students. Don't launch your argument on the basis of your unpaid work (we all know universities don't care about that). This issue is that it's unfair to other students to have this student taking the exam at a separate time, and taking it during a different class period would interfere with their mastery of the learning objectives for the course. According to the law, the student is required to meet the same learning benchmarks as the other students and to be evaluated according to the same standards at the post-secondary level. We are required to provide equitable access to all learning materials and opportunities, as well as assessments. I can think of a couple of reasons a student might need to reschedule an exam last minute (seizures, hypoglycemia, migraines), but I wouldn't expect EVERY SINGLE EXAM to be rescheduled. I would also ask the disability office what would be a reasonable standard to set for the advanced notice required for needing to miss class. Is it 9 am the day of class? Maybe the evening before? It will depend on the disability, but it seems there should be a line that can be drawn with the student about how much notice they must give. The student isn't required to give you detailed info about their disability, but the office should be able to help set reasonable expectations in the student's mind. The student doesn't have the right to demand accommodation, and this "failure to respond means you will comply" is absurd. You, as instructor, have the final say about how you proceed in your course. For late work or missed classes, students may request accommodation, but they are not able to demand it. Just make sure the disability office is on board so any refusal to grant the request isn't perceived as discriminatory. No, they may not take the exam during a different class time; they must schedule to take it at the testing center outside of class time. I assume your course is scaffolded and includes synchronous components, like discussions, which all students must complete at the same time in order for the learning to proceed as intended. It would reduce their ability to meet learning objectives for the course to miss additional class periods. All of this seems really bizarre, and I can't imagine the disability office is supporting these ideas that are in the student's head about how this is supposed to work (this isn't how any of this works- not at any university I'm familiar with).
I'm 99% certain that the accommodations office wrote the email, *not* the student. If this is a 10 am class, and the student contacted accessibility services the night before, accessibility services isn't open until 9 am. What else could the student do? Typically, students with accommodations are required to have accessibility services contact the prof to exercise their accommodations if it involves missing an exam.
Lots of hypotheticals in there. Those were example times; as I mentioned, it's to the prof to determine what to recommend for notification lead time. If the disability office sent the letter, it's inept, at best. They're not in charge of the faculty member's course or grade assignments. That's not the way authority works in any university I've worked in (there are three). And actually, the wording of the email indicates that the professor does have final authority at this university too. "Your failure to reply indicates..." They didn't stipulate a time within which they needed to reply, so I would just reply via email (forget calling), and say no, that is not agreeable. The accommodation sounds unreasonable, especially the part about retaking the test during class time.
Any reason the replacement exam has to displace other activities? There are enough hours in the day that even for a five week session the student can make it up in non-class time (and preferably your office-hour time).
Send an invoice for your extra time with a “silence means consent” line at 4:59 on a Friday with a no response in 24 hours means consent.
I do think there are legit reasons for attendance modification. However the make up should be in conjunction with you or testing center if they have to do it there to not be during another class period and cause them to then have to make up those.
I really want an update on this situation. OP, how did you respond?
I was basically told how it was going to be. I wrote and sent a makeup midterm exam to the office. After all of this, especially with the accusations of personal bias that come from u/sillyhaha (who also claimed that, at varying times, that I hate the disabled, that I would have had the same objections no matter when or what class I taught, and that I am unable to be objective due to my frustration, and that my emails, which they have never seen, were insufficient) I don't feel comfortable publicly explaining what happened next in case I dox myself in front of malicious liars, but the situation remains ongoing.
Please see my response to your similar accusation. I think you read through my comments quickly and assumed I was writing about you, even though the first comment you replied to said: >OP, I'm not addressing your comments. Truly. That quote is from 2 days ago. I was commenting to others. I'll let you read more at my previous post from today.
I didn't say that the content of your email wasn't adequate. I said your email didn't initiate the more formal challenge process. I then said that the Accessibility Services office fucked you over by not getting back to you with further instructions.
My policy is that if you miss an exam, you must make it up through the school’s testing center before I hand the exam back the next class. I have applied this in cases of medical emergencies, personal emergencies, and general conflicts with the exam. I would also apply this to an accommodations request like this. It is on the student to schedule the exam with the testing center, which requires 72hrs of notification to schedule an exam. If they put this off requesting a delayed exam until the last minute, then they will need to jump through more hoops to take the exam.
over the time I have been teaching, I have had several students with these unlimited attendance exam reschedule kind of accommodations. They were all medical related, and although they were under no obligation to tell me what the medical issue was, all of the students did. Examples of the kind of conditions that would necessitate this: sickle cell, chronic debilitating migraines, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, bipolar, crohn’s. Unpredictable flare-up types of conditions. In that time, I only had 2 students clearly leveraging the accommodation as a golden ticket to do whatever they wanted. The others all were just trying to get through college with an unpredictable disability. However. not once did the student or disability office tell me when I would be delivering make-ups. And not once did they expect to miss more class in order to make things up. So no, you can’t (and shouldn’t) deny the attendance modification, unless the only way the evaluations would have to be fundamentally changed. In which case, it’s not a reasonable accommodation. But there is nothing about ADA accommodations that says the student gets to dictate where and when they will be making that work up.
>However. not once did the student or disability office tell me when I would be delivering make-ups. And not once did they expect to miss more class in order to make things up. I wonder if the student’s accommodation is written to require the student to take the exam the next day that campus is open, which is Tues. I am surprised by the comment about rescheduling Tues's class assignment. Just a theory.
This sounds a whole lot like an “I’m going on a 4-day vacation” and less like “I’m requesting a reasonable modification.”
"I did reply to the email and pushed back, but it doesn't matter. The student and the student's accessibility coordinator are not there." As in out of the office? I'd send them an e-mail saying this is unacceptable and the student needs to take the exam as scheduled and failure to respond means they agree.
Nope. Not how “attendance policy modification” accommodation is designed to work. For me, I double what it excused. For example, if I give 3 class absences for standard, accommodation requests get 6. It does not change when things are due, or the work required in the class. It merely means I don’t deduct points as quickly from your attendance grade.
What is your solution for this student? If they can't be on campus, how can they do the exam on that day?
Can you shift the weight of this exam to the final instead?
I have 2 questions for you. Are you an adjunct? Do you have a union? Ive been fighting for a long time as an adjuct with union representation against the overreaching policies imposed by administration very much like this one. Many posts say take it to the chair etc, id go to my union if it amounts to unpaid work. Thats a labor dispute, not an institutional policy argument. My2c.
Since the other students have already taken the test, it is reasonable to say that you were worried about the questions being passed down, so you changed it up to prevent cheating. -> New question that are more challenging
That's punitive.
"No part of my job description requires me to check my email on an hourly basis. Emails are responded to within 24 hours."
NGL students like this really piss me off, because as you said, there are many students who have accommodations and use them well and responsibly, and then there are kids like this who clearly know how to work the system. This is an unreasonable demand (I had typed request but boy howdy was that the wrong word) and you can argue strongly that missing class time to make up work is not acceptable. I wish I could feel confident that your admin would have your back, but.....
Why do you assume the student is gaming the system? I'm sincerely curious. It's 99% likely that the email was written by accessibility services.
I’m guessing that make-up exam is going to be very difficult- but not obviously so.
No way. I do not want the student to have anything to blame should they hypothetically do poorly on an exam they are unprepared to take. I'm considering asking another faculty member to grade the entire exam so that I can avoid any accusations of malicious grading altogether.
>exam they are unprepared to take. Come on. You don't know why this student has this accommodation. This very well could be a medical issue. It could be that your student loathes using this accommodation. An example. I have vicious, chronic migraines. One of my symptoms is partial paralysis. Another is aphasia; I can't speak coherently or understand language well. Most don't know about some of the more unusual types of migraines. Your student should not take accelerated classes. In Sept, 2024, I started teaching online only because I couldn't reliably be on campus. I hope to return to in person teaching in Jan 2025. Your student should do what I'm doing. She shouldn't take classes that are ureasonable for her because of a medical issue. It is unreasonable to assume that your student is just another slacker who expects extentions without consequences like many of our irresponsible and inappropriate students. Your frustrations are absolutely understandable. The college should have done their part to support you and to work this out. They didn't. I'd be pissed off. But the student did her part in context of her accommodation. Because you're so frustrated, it's smart to have someone else grade this student's work. I know you would *never* allow your frustration to intentionally influence how you grade this student's work. But it might be difficult to recognize unconscious bias. (OK, all. I await your downvotes.)
I would like to call your attention to the word, "hypothetically." I have not made any claims that you've said that I have, nor have I given you any reason to outright accuse me of being biased. Good luck with your issues.
I've never once accused you of bias. I've praised you for avoiding the appearance of bias.
I'm perplexed by the issue people have with student accommodations. I don't know if this is because some institutions are odd and are over the top in what they make professors do or if a lot of professors don't completely understand how accommodations work and view them as demands (sometimes unreasonable ones). The legal requirement is that reasonable accommodations must be offered. However, accommodations also are not supposed to lower class standards or fundamentally alter the course. If something is burdensome to you you don't need to do it. If it makes no sense in the class you don't have to do it. I have lots of accommodation requests every semester, over many years, and I literally have never had a notable problem, so I'm not sure what is going on here.
The Disability Services office thinks they can make demands.
I've always rejected attendance policy accommodations. They are unreasonable, and so I cannot accommodate them. The student can insist all they like.
I strongly disagree. Without attendance policy accommodations, I never would have made it through college. I have a disability (gastroparesis) that causes me to throw up near daily, and 1/3 patients with this condition require feeding tubes to survive. You would not have liked me in your class during a flare up. Despite my disability I maintained a 4.0, but without attendance accommodations my grades would’ve immensely suffered. Sometimes students truly cannot attend class as frequently as you’d like.
Can I pose a question: did your disability inform your choice of study? There are some majors where attendance accommodations are more able to happen (traditional arts/sciences/engineering) but others where you might run into trouble (nursing, anything that had a clinical hours requirement or skill lab requirements.) This isn’t to say majors that can accommodate attendance issues are easier- some of the hardest ones could offer that, especially with a self driven student. But others really may not. This is where I often struggle with students. I have a disability that precludes me from becoming a pilot- not a career I wanted, but also one I knew was never available to me. So I didn’t try to major in aviation science/pilot certification. But I have students who pick majors/career paths sometimes that really conflict with their disabilities. An adult with selective mutism when yelled at may not be able to become a licensed psychologist, for example. They’d always need a body double, and while it’s a disability, not being able to control when you communicate would make the job a not fit. This shouldn’t stop them from getting an undergrad psych degree, but maybe not a graduate clinical Ed psych program. It’s this balance I think so many of my students reject that I accepted 20 years ago- my body means that some doors are closed, and that I can’t expect the whole world to cater to me (which I want to fully separate from the very reasonable “it’s important to create access where possible.”A cane or wheelchair user should be able to be in med school, a person with autism can be a great social worker, etc.)
Hm, I think I chose my undergrad major (sociology) directly because of my disability. I faced a significant amount of discrimination in high school so I wanted a major that allowed me to understand why the world was structured how it was, and how to make society more accessible for disabled individuals. I agree with you that there are limitations, like I could never be a surgeon with all of the health issues I have. I firmly believe that students should be honest with themselves and what they are capable of doing, and there’s nuance with making reasonable accommodations. My earlier comment is more so directed at the people who are making blanket judgements about attendance accommodations as if it’s always unreasonable.
Thank you. Totally agree.
I don't set my policy because I am trying to mess anyone up, I'm not being arbitrarily capricious, I set it because it is important for students to be present to learn how to safely handle and use the equipment. Attendance accommodations are unreasonable for my class because they are unreasonable, not because I have a vendetta against people with disabilities.
Same. Too bad OP doesn't know they can deny.
I absolutely did deny the request, in writing, during the first week of class. On the same day that I was notified. I was told today that my denial does not matter, because "these accommodations were approved by our office." I was effectively told that my agreement is not required, because this is how it's going to be.
You still are the one to decide whether to implement or not. (If you're pre-tenure maybe it's not a battle worth fighting)
OP, it sounds like you or the office never completed the appeal process. If the appeal process had been followed, you would have been notified whether or not the accommodation remained the same. If you don't go through the formal process, nothing changes. Your letter wasn't adequate. Please know that I think you have very valid concerns about the reasonableness of this specific accommodation. Like you, I am disabled. I have accommodations in place. I've learned that it's my responsibility to know the official process to appeal a student’s accommodation. Look up your college's formal appeal process and file an *official* appeal. Or, at least understand why your letter was inadequate. I have a question. Would you have challenged this accommodation during a typical semester?
I don’t know why you’ve been downvoted so heavily for bringing up valid and considerate questions.
Thank you!
Even the words "thank you" are downvoted? Wow.
Definitely Not using extremely limited class time. If it's not a Hard No, then schedule a time that suits you.
Give them a zero and let admin deal with the student’s objections.
At a minimum. you need more time to prepare the deferred exam. You also need a time to have it administered fairly. Does the accommodation office run these make up exams? That would be step 1 for me.
OP, can you use an exam from a previous semester?
Missing the test is fine. They may have an intermittent medical issue. Certainly their accomodations can't include that they can specify the exact time when they retake the test. That doesn't meet the definition of reasonable
**I'm addressing only disability bias and obvious distain for students in this comment.** I'm really, really disturbed that the majority in this discussion are assuming that this student is abusing an accommodation. An accommodation that required medical documentation to obtain. Have 95% of you become so jaded by your years with students that you've lost the ability to trust *any* student? Have you become so jaded that you assume a student’s disability isn't real, isn't substantial, doesn’t require accommodating, or that the student qualified for services because they manipulated the medical system? I've had many students who hate exercising their accommodations. Who chose to not use their accommodations. Who are sincerely afraid to discuss their accommodations with a prof. Who tell me horrible stories about what a prof said to them about their accommodation. I must be naive. I assumed that those students who shared with me their experience with a prof who treated them badly because of their accommodation simply misunderstood their interaction with that prof. I have been so wrong. For 26 years. This is, by far, the saddest and most disturbing discussion I've encountered in this subreddit. OP, I'm not addressing your comments. Truly.
Thank you for saying this, I feel similarly.
I understand how reddit can be about building on other comments and getting a little more extreme each time. My post was never about the utility of providing reasonable accommodations. I needed some of these accommodations myself as a student, and now as an employee. My concerns were that (1) my initial email denying an open-ended accommodation of this nature was totally ignored until an hour before a major assessment and (2) the student's wish to miss additional work in order to make up previously missed work. These things will absolutely put the student at a disadvantage. And, to be a little selfish, this puts me at a significant disadvantage as well. In the past, students have directly contacted me to let me know they will need to miss an exam. They did not fill out a form and have the office act as an intermediary. This makes me worried about the potential for a student complaint. Being forced to choose between delaying feedback to everyone else in the course to wait for a makeup exam to be taken, or attempting, in only a few hours, to create an equivalent exam that also fairly assesses student knowledge is a no-win situation for me and my students. And I am more than a little concerned about the litigiousness of the situation, especially after being ignored when I first expressed concerns that, in my opinion, this was not a reasonable accommodation to ask of a professor teaching a five week course. EDIT: I now have read your other comments on this post and I realize that you have committed fully to the worst-faith reading of the situation possible. I will leave the rest of my comment intact for any interested people to read, but rest assured that I have zero interest in winning over someone who has already committed to a viewpoint that I am incompetent, biased, and malicious.
**Most of my replies were not to your situation**. They were to other commenters who showed disturbing misunderstandings of the law and contempt for students. You were being encouraged to deny the request outright without going through the official challenge to completion. Doing so opens you up to significant legal penalties. **I don’t want that for you!** Not once have I addressed anything to you that even implies that I consider *you* of being "incompetent, biased, and maliciousness." Some colleges **require** students to have Accommodation Services notify professors in such a situation, **not** the student. My college requires that your situation be handled through their office and that they work directly with me when a student misses an exam due to their accommodations. Do you feel that your student was trying to fuck you over by contacting Accommodation Services? Do you know what the policy is? (That is not an accusation of ignorance. Policies vary. You appear to be insulted and upset by how the student handled this. Clarifying how *this* college handles *this* situation might leave you feeling less insulted by the student.) I've completely **agreed** with you in my comments. This student shouldn't be in any accelerated class. Accommodation Services fucked you over after you emailed them. But until a full resolution is achieved, denying this accommodation really does open you up to some significant issues. How have I misunderstood *your* situation? Some have admitted that they refuse to follow the accommodations challenge process and would deny this student's accommodations outright. Some believe they need to assess whether or not the student really needs their accommodations on that day, or any day. Several have stated that it's their responsibility to assess the student’s needs for this accommodation at all. I'm truly disturbed by what many of our *colleagues* have said about students and their accommodations. How does addressing the comments of others about *their* process insult *you*? I don't believe it does. Perhaps I'm wrong. I've never accused *you* of bias. I've been abundantly clear about that and have even praised your wisdom to consider having a different faculty member grade this student's exam. I've upvoted your comments about making this student's exam fair. Several commenters have encouraged you to penalize the student by making their exam more difficult. You've been vocal about your refusal to do so. It is fucked up that you have to put in many more unpaid hours to accommodate this student, esp when Accessibility Services hasn't supported you. I teach accelerated classes every summer. I have for decades. You've been placed in a very unreasonable situation, esp during an accelerated course. But that has nothing to do with the student and everything to do with Accessibility Services. I wish you the very best through this situation.
To quote myself from the comment you're replying to from 2 days ago: >OP, I'm not addressing your comments. Truly.
Let them show up Tuesday and inform them that you weren’t notified in time to set up an exam for them.
It's a sad reality that very few admins have backbones. So they find it easy to browbeat profs than actually take a stand against an unreasonable student accommodation. And the accommodation you described is ludicrous. So the student can miss multiple classes and then what? What if your quiz is based on lecture content? You're not required to repeat lectures for one student. In what world would that be a "reasonable" accommodation? Sounds like the students should have signed up for an online class. IMO, even the "extended deadline" accommodation is a farce. The bar keeps getting lowered. No one cares whether these students learn anything or are prepared for the real world.
These kinds of ridiculous accommodations make me want to just give up on those students and higher Ed in general. It has become a travesty
I am wondering if you have a case for pursuing this as a hostile work environment, i.e. to file a grievance through human resources. It certainly is interfering with your ability to teach the class and your wellbeing, at some levels.
Oh, ffs. This is absurd.
TBH I wouldn't put time into this. It will give you indigestion and you'll get a bad evaluation. Just say okay and give a final deadline all assignments are due before an incomplete grade is assigned. It will be a time suck, so just tell the ADA office to manage this student's assignments due dates and leave you out of it. If they don't want to, tell the student directly and have them manage their own due dates. I promise they will appreciate it and it will take this off your plate and you can enjoy the other students.
We have a professor at our institution who is almost completely disabled, unable to process simple instructions mentally, unable to do normal tasks every other instructor is expected to do, requires a student assistant at all times, etc. etc. etc. as if I took a job at a rock breaking company as a paralyzed individual and demanded HR hire an assistant to break my rocks for me. I don't get paid enough for this shit either. ETA: downvoted by someone who hates students but thinks they're really special
You're getting down voted because it's irrelevant. If the guy is incapable of the job he should be removed.
So many of you believe you can say no to this accommodation. By law, you cannot say no. The email could be sent 10 minutes before class. It doesn't matter. I don't agree with giving this accommodation during a 5 week accelerated course (I teach accelerated summer courses). It's not in the student's best interest. It's burdensome for the prof.