Policy on Course Substitutions Based on Disability:

A specific learning disability can interfere with a student’s successful completion of a course (e.g. foreign language or quantitative).  In order to be provided with special accommodations for such disabilities, documentation from an appropriate licensed professional that specifically addresses this issue is required to be on file with the Accessibility Resources Center (ARC).  It is the student’s responsibility to supply such documentation, though the ARC Director may provide guidance on what is required. Course substitutions are determined on a case-by-case basis, and requests must be reviewed by the appropriate campus committee and/or the Provost’s office.

 Because of the many options provided by the Core Curriculum, substitutions under this policy generally apply only to Major Requirements. Substitutions of Core Curriculum courses will be considered only in those rare instances that (a) the documented disability can be shown to apply to all courses satisfying a given Core category, or (b) the disability applies to a course that satisfies both a Core requirement and a Major requirement.

Procedures for Securing Course Substitutions Based on Disability:

1. The student must first fill out a Request for Course Substitution Form, and submit it to the Accessibility Resources Center.

• Requests for course substitutions should be submitted a minimum of three weeks prior to the registration period for the academic term during which the student is planning to enroll in the course for which a substitution is requested.

2. The student will be contacted to schedule a meeting to discusses the request with the Director of Accessibility Resources Center. The director will assemble relevant documentation for the student’s advisor and the associate provost including prior history of attempts to complete the course in question with appropriate effort and utilization of university support services, and a qualified professional’s diagnosis and recommendations.

3. The student’s advisor, upon request of the Director of ARC, should then consult with the student to determine a list of suggested appropriate substitutions for the course that the student desires to substitute.

4. The faculty advisor will contact the associate provost (graduate or undergraduate as appropriate to the case) who will convene a meeting of (a) the associate provost, (b) the student’s faculty advisor, (c) the chair (or designee) of the department offering the student’s major program (if different from the advisor), and (d) the Director of the ARC to discuss the reasonableness of the request and to approve or deny the request. If the course in question is offered by a department other than that offering the student’s major program, the chair (or designee) of the department offering the course will also be consulted.

• Course substitutions will not be permitted if the course is determined by the committee to be essential to the student’s major. 
• This committee may recommend alternative substitutions than those requested by the student.

5. The student will be notified in writing by the associate provost of the approval or denial of the request.

6. If the request is approved, the associate provost will provide appropriate notification to the registrar and other necessary individuals.

• Request for Course Substitution Form [ PDF Format | Word Format ]

 Approved by the Faculty Senate on February 29, 2008