Rights and Responsibilities

As part of the interactive process, each party has both rights and responsibilities as outlined.  

Student Rights

• Access to courses, programs, services and facilities offered through the college
• Appropriate and reasonable academic accommodations determined on an individual, as-needed basis.
• Confidentiality of records and communication except where disclosure is necessary to arrange accommodations, required as “need to know”, or authorized by the student.
• Fair evaluation of academic achievement based on 
• The right to appeal a decision concerning academic accommodations according to the college’s grievance procedures

Student Responsibilities

Every qualified student with a disability has the responsibility to:

• Meet and uphold the college’s qualifications and standards as outlined in the Student Handbook and college catalog.
• Contact the Disability Services office to arrange for appropriate academic accommodations in a timely manner. Students who need accommodations that take an extensive amount of time to prepare, such as alternate format texts, sign language interpreters, or computer aided real time translation (CART) are urged to contact the Director of Disability Services as soon as courses for the following semester are confirmed.
• Inform professors at the beginning of each semester about the need for any necessary and reasonable academic accommodations and to ensure accommodation plans have been received. 
• Provide the Disability Services office with appropriate documentation from a qualified professional, which verifies the diagnosis of the disability, explains how the disability limits participation and, accordingly, the need for specific accommodations.

College Rights

Macalester College has the right to:

• Identify and establish course requirements, essential functions, abilities, skills, knowledge, and standards for courses, programs, services, and facilities and to evaluate and determine reasonable accommodations on this basis
• Request current and appropriate documentation from a qualified professional to verify the need for reasonable academic accommodations.
• Consult with students in making the final determination regarding the selection of effective, appropriate and reasonable academic accommodations. The college reserves the right to make the final decision regarding accommodations. 
• Deny a request for accommodations if the documentation does not identify a valid disability, fails to verify the need for the requested accommodations, or if the documentation or request for accommodations are not provided in a timely manner.

The College may also refuse to provide any accommodation that is inappropriate or unreasonable, including any that:

• Pose a threat to the health and safety of others
• Constitute a substantial change or alteration to an essential requirement of a course or program
• Pose undue financial or undue administrative burden in the implementation of the accommodation. 

College Responsibilities

Macalester College has the responsibility to:

• Maintain and uphold the academic standards and requirements set forth by the college.
• Provide information regarding university policies and procedures to students with disabilities and assure availability in accessible formats upon request.
• Evaluate students’ academic achievement based on their abilities.
• Provide reasonable and appropriate academic accommodations for students with disabilities in a timely manner.
• Maintain and uphold confidentiality of records and communication concerning students with disabilities except where disclosure is necessary for the accommodations, required by law, or authorized by the student.
• Provide accommodations free of charge.