Oberlin College Policies

Grievance Policies and Procedures

Oberlin College's Policy on Discrimination and Harrassment can be found on the Office of Equity Concerns's website.  You will also be able to find procedures for filing a complaint.  You can follow the links below to go directly to each of these pages, or once you are on the Office of Equity Concern's website you can navigate to each of these pages from the links on their website.

Overview

http://new.oberlin.edu/office/equity-concerns/policy-on-discrimination-and-harassment/

Policy Statement

http://new.oberlin.edu/office/equity-concerns/policy-on-discrimination-and-harassment/policy+statement.dot

How to File a Complaint

http://new.oberlin.edu/office/equity-concerns/policy-on-discrimination-and-harassment/hot-to-file-a-complaint.dot

Rights of Oberlin College Students with Disabilities

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as amended, prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability and protects qualified applicants and employees with disabilities from discrimination in hiring, promotion, discharge, pay, job training, fringe benefits and other aspects of employment. The law also requires that covered entities provide qualified applicants and employees with disabilities with reasonable accommodations. An individual is considered to have a disability if that individual either 1) has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of that person’s major life activities, 2) has a record of such impairment, or 3) is regarded as having such impairment.

The ADA further prohibits retaliating against an individual for asserting his/her rights under the ADA. The Act also makes it unlawful to discriminate against an individual, whether disabled or not, because of the individual’s family, business, social, or other relationship or association with an individual with a disability.

It is the policy of Oberlin College not to discriminate against individuals with disabilities—who are otherwise qualified—in administering educational policies, employment policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other College-administered programs.

It is further the policy of the College to enable those individuals with disabilities to participate as independently as possible in Oberlin College activities so that campus life will be enhanced and the individual lives of members of the College community will be enriched.

Oberlin College resolves to make reasonable efforts to see that the opportunities it offers are accessible to all qualified individuals. Appropriate academic adjustments and modifications of policies and procedures will be implemented for students with disabilities.

In addition, Oberlin College adheres to the policies and procedures and Section 504 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which reads:

“No otherwise qualified handicapped individual...shall, solely by reason of his/her handicap, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.”

In April of 1977, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare issued a regulation that defines handicapped persons as those individuals who have a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity, and generally requires that “each program and activity, when viewed in its entirety, is readily accessible to handicapped persons and is offered in the most integrated setting appropriate.” Specific requirements of interest to students with disabilities include the following (in summary form).

1. Admission to Classes

Institutions may not, on the basis of disability, exclude a qualified student with a disability from any course or area of concentration. This provision requires that some classes may have to be relocated, and some laboratory equipment may have to be modified to accommodate the needs of a qualified student with a disability, and that auxiliary aids must be permitted in the classroom when they are necessary to ensure the full participation of a student with a disability.

2. Academic Requirements

Instructors are obligated to make changes in course requirements if necessary to ensure that such requirements do not discriminate against a qualified student with a disability. Similarly, the faculty must alter or waive any requirement for a major or a College degree that has the effect of discriminating against a qualified student with a disability. Examples of such modifications may include changes in the length of time permitted for completion of requirements, or providing an alternative for particular laboratory assignments or field trips. If a requirement is essential to a course, major or degree, and a student with a disability cannot fulfill it, then the person is not “qualified” within the definition of this term.

3. Other Adjustments

Prohibitive rules, which would have the effect of limiting the participation of a student with a disability in campus activities, must be waived for the student with a disability. Such rules include a ban on having a service animal in classrooms or residence halls, or on using a tape recorder in a classroom or during guest lectures. If an instructor is concerned about possible misuse of recordings of lecture material that will be published or otherwise protected by copyright, the instructor may ask a student to sign a form (available from the Office of Disability Services) on which the student agrees that any recordings will be used only for his/her own personal study.

4. Examinations

If necessary, course instructors are obligated to provide alternate testing procedures for a student with a disability, so that the results of the evaluation represent the student’s achievement in the course, rather than the student’s impaired sensory, manual or speaking skills (except where skills are the specific factors being measured).

5. Counseling

A student with a disability may not be counseled toward a more restrictive career than would be suggested for a non-disabled student, unless such counseling based on strict licensing or certification requirements in a profession.

6. Procedures

Specific procedures for students with disabilities to receive accommodations are available through the Office of Disability Services.

7. Student Appeal

The College provides, as required, an internal procedure through which a student may appeal an adverse decision on a request for some academic adjustment. (See section CC below). Further information about the student appeal process is available through the Office of Disability Services.

 

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