Student Accessibility and Support Services (SASS)

Erin Salva, Director ∙

740-427-5453 ∙ kenyon.edu/sass

Housing Accommodation Policy

Kenyon College is committed to supporting students with disabilities with reasonable housing accommodations to provide equal access to their residential living space. The Housing Accommodation Policy applies to all students and explains the specific steps necessary to request a housing accommodation at Kenyon College.

The American with Disabilities Act (ADA) defines a person with a disability as someone who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. The three factors influencing a determination of substantial limitation are 1) the nature and severity of the impairment, 2) the duration or expected duration of the impairment, and 3) whether the impairment is characterized as permanent or longterm.

General Information

The College believes that a major feature of attending a residential college is the opportunity for all students to live with one another. As such, all students enrolled at Kenyon College are required to live in College housing and enroll in the College meal plan. Given the logistical challenge related to preparing housing assignments for the entire student body, the College requires students with disabilities, who require a reasonable housing accommodation, to affirmatively request a housing accommodationwithin the established deadlines.

The Office of Student Accessibility and Support Services (SASS Office) works closely with the Office of Housing and Residential Life to provide students with reasonable housing accommodations. Reasonable housing accommodations currently available include, but are not limited to, rooms with air conditioning, carpet-free rooms, and/or rooms that are wheelchair accessible.

Students who may need ahousing accommodation because of a medical dietary disability and/or condition, other than access to a community kitchen, must also follow the process for requesting a meal planaccommodation.

Process for Requesting a Housing Accommodation

*This does not include Service Animals, as defined by the ADA.

*This does not include Emotional Support Animals, as defined by HUD.

Housing accommodations must be requested and approved for each academic year. Kenyon College will accept and consider all reasonable and necessary housing accommodation requests at any time, however, completed requests must be received by the Office of Student Accessibility and Support Services (SASS Office) by the following deadlines in order to ensure that approved requests can be accommodated for the specified term and/or remainder of the academic year:

Academic Term(s) Requested / Student Group / Application Deadline
Fall & Spring Semesters / Upper-Class Students
First-Year/Transfer/Readmitted Students / February 5
June 5
Spring Semester / All Students / November 5
Summer / All Students / April 5

*Since accommodations are good for one academic year, students requesting summer accommodations may use documentation from the previous year, if they do not need a housing accommodation for the upcoming year.

Should a need for reasonable housing accommodation occur during a current term and/or after one of the aforementioned dates, students should complete the process below as soon as possible. While the College will make every reasonable effort to address all necessary and requested accommodations, the College cannot guarantee that it will be reasonable or feasible for the current and/or upcoming term to grant a housing accommodation request received after the stated deadlines.

Submitting a request for a reasonable housing accommodation does not guarantee a specific accommodation. Students must complete the housing accommodation request process and receive approval before engaging in any behaviors related to the requested housing accommodation.

Documentation

Students must complete and submit a Housing Accommodation Request Form(Word)to the SASS Office. When the disability and/or need for accommodation is not obvious, students may also be asked to have a treating healthcare provider complete and submit a Housing Accommodation Verification Form(Word)to the SASS Office. This form provides the SASS Office with reliable documentation that the student has a disability.

Documentation must also show that the requested accommodation is necessary to provide them with equal access to their residential living space; in addition, there must be an identifiable relationship, or nexus, between the requested accommodation and their disability. The treating health care provider completing the form must specialize in a field consistent with the diagnosis, as well as be familiar with the student’s disability and the necessity for the requested accommodation. To avoid any conflict of interest, documentation must be provided by a non-family health care provider.

Students seeking reasonable and necessary housing accommodations must complete the following:

1)Students must complete and submit a Housing Accommodation Request Formto the SASS Office. When the disability and/or need for accommodation is not obvious, students may also be asked to have a treating healthcare provider complete and submit a Housing Accommodation Verification Form

to the SASS Office. The SASS Office will provide assistance to students who, due to their disability, require assistance to complete these, or any other related forms. No housing accommodation request will be considered without the completion of the needed forms.

2)Once the SASS office receives a housing request, the director or designee will contact the student, in writing, to set up a meeting to discuss the requested housing accommodation to ensure that the need and scope of the request is fully understood.

3)Upon receipt of both the request form, and, when applicable, the verification form, the Director of SASS will review the form(s). Should additional information be needed, the student may be asked tosign a release of information so that the College may verify the disability and/or that the requested accommodation is necessary for equal access to their residential living space.

Housing Accommodation Decision

1)The Director of SASS will involve a health care professional from the Health and Counseling Center, as well as staff members from the Office of Housing and Residential Life to determine reasonable and necessary accommodations, as necessary.

2)Unless there are exigent circumstances, the SASS Office will provide a written response for all completed applications, as defined above, within 10 business days of the next application due date (Feb. 5, April 5, June 5 or Nov. 5). Upon approval, this written response will include the student’s housing accommodation, including, whenever possible, the student’s housing assignment. Upon denial, see the appeals process below.

Appeals

If the Director of SASS, in consultation with a medical professional from the Health and Counseling Center, as well as staff members from the Office of Housing and Residential Life, find that a requested housing accommodation is not necessary and/or unreasonable, the student may file a written appeal with the Dean of Students within five (5) business days of the denial.The appeal will be considered only on the basis ofwritten materials, information and/or documentation only.

The appeal must be based upon one or more of the following criteria:

●Procedural error(s) made in the consideration of the request

●New information unavailable at the time of the request (i.e. updated medical information)

●The decision was clearly erroneous based on the written record

Upon receipt of the appeal, the Dean of Students will review all of the relevant information and provide a written response within five (5) business days either granting the appeal and modifying the initial decision, or denying the appeal and maintaining the initial decision. The Dean’s decision shall be final.

Nothing in the policy shall prohibit a student who believes that they may have been subjected to disability discrimination to utilize the College’s Section 504 Grievance Procedures and/or to pursue a complaint with the Office for Civil Rights.

Additional Information

Students must complete the form for the academic term(s) for which they are requesting a housing accommodation. Kenyon College reserves the right to revise this policy at any time, as circumstances require.

Kenyon College does not discriminate in its educational programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, physical and/or mental disability, age, religion, medical condition, veteran status, marital status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by institutional policy or state, local, or federal law. The requirement of non-discrimination in educational programs and activities extends to employment and admission.

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Housing Accommodation Policy Updated 1/2017