The following is the process for determining housing accommodations for students with disabilities. This process should be used with all students requesting special housing accommodations due to a documented disability. A wide range of documented disabilities may require accommodations to the University’s housing process and/or residential units. These disabilities may include mobility impairments, medical disabilities, or psychological conditions.
Step one: Students inform the assistant director for Disability Support Services (DSS) regarding their desire for special housing accommodations due to a disability.
- Residence Life, Housing, or other University offices should refer students requesting housing accommodations to the DSS office.
- Students who indicate on their housing application that they have a disability requiring accommodation should also be referred to the DSS office.
Step two: Students provide supporting documentation that meets the documentation guidelines for the particular disability, and should participate in an intake interview with the assistant director for DSS.
- The assistant director for DSS should serve as the primary point of contact for students regarding these issues.
- The assistant director for DSS should also inform students of other resources available to them.
The following deadlines apply:
- To have all appropriate accommodations available, a new student must contact the assistant director for DSS by June 1 for Autumn Quarter housing accommodations.
- A returning student must notify the assistant director for DSS by April 1 for Autumn Quarter housing accommodations.
- The assistant director for DSS should send an email or letter at the end of Winter Quarter to continuing students who have previously received housing accommodations to determine their needs for the upcoming year.
- Contacting the assistant director for DSS later than these dates will significantly limit the staff’s ability to respond to requests for accommodations. Students wishing to move onto campus in the middle of the year must contact the assistant director for DSS at least six weeks before the beginning of the quarter for which they are requesting housing.
The University should diligently attempt to reasonably accommodate the needs of students with disabilities who desire to live on campus beyond the time required by the Campus Living Policy. However, residential units may not be available at the same level that they are for students who are required to live on campus by the policy.
Step three: The assistant director for DSS reviews individual situations to determine the University’s responsibility for accommodations under Section 504 and/or ADA .
- The assistant director for DSS then gathers information from Residence Life, Housing Services, Plant Services, and Safety and Security as appropriate.
- Once all necessary information is gathered, the assistant director for DSS may recommend suitable housing options (if appropriate) to the Housing Accommodation Committee (currently consisting of the assistant directors of Residence Life, Housing Manager, Manager of Building Maintenance, and the assistant director of DSS).
Step four: The Housing Accommodations Committee should review recommendations and make a final decision.
- The assistant director for DSS should document the decisions and forward a copy to the assistant director of Residence Life, manager of Building Maintenance, Housing manager, and director of Safety and Security (as necessary), who should then act on the information as appropriate.
- These departmental representatives should communicate relevant information to their staff as appropriate.
- Decisions should be made in a timely manner so as to promptly communicate with students and staff.
Step five: The assistant director for DSS should communicate final accommodation decisions to the student.
Step six: The assistant director for DSS should follow-up with the manager for Building Maintenance to confirm completion of necessary work in preparation for specific student’s needs.
Step seven: The assistant director for DSS should inform assistant director of Residence Life and appropriate Residence Life staff of any additional follow-up that they may need to have with students when they arrive.
Step eight: Residence Life staff members should meet with students to discuss their individual situations, and to assist them, as appropriate, in making a positive transition to living in their housing placement.
Special Notes: The following are the wheelchair-accessible rooms on campus (with room type in parenthesis):
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Hill 306 (double, male)
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Hill 368 (double, female)
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Emerson 205 (single with private bath, female)
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Emerson 273 (triple with private bath, female)
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Emerson 274 (double with private bath, female)
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Emerson 374 (double with private bath, male)
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Emerson 421 (double with private bath, female)
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Emerson 423 (double with private bath, female)
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Emerson 474 (triple with private bath, female)
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Emerson 573 (double with private bath, male)
Typically all of the ADA double rooms and the ADA single rooms are reserved for students with mobility impairments who need this kind of adaptive room. This means that these rooms will not be given to returning students in the spring Housing sign-up process unless they are returning students who have these kinds of special needs.
The ADA triple rooms are added to the list of reserved rooms if deemed necessary. A certain number of non-ADA single rooms are also reserved for students whose disabilities require private accommodations. In addition to the ADA single in Emerson (205, female), typically the Hill single (172, female) and four Emerson singles (all with shared baths) are also reserved. More may be reserved if needed. The Housing manager should keep a waitlist for students who may want these rooms if they are not needed for students with disabilities who need those rooms.
Changes may be made to the above list, as buildings are renovated and new buildings are developed.