Certain accommodations require completing a specific process in order for AES to evaluate the accommodation. Guidance and types of documentation required for these processes are listed below. If you are looking for information outside of these specialized accommodations, please refer to Student Accommodations or New to AES. 

  1. Disability Housing Accommodations
  2. Emotional Support Animals in Campus Residences
  3. Service Animals on Campus
  4. Flex Attendance Policy and Guidelines
  5. Remote Attendance Policy
  6. Foreign Language Requirement Substitution Policy

1. Disability Housing Accommodations

Please follow our Housing Accommodation Request Process to request disability-related housing accommodations. Please allow adequate time to process requests that may require Accessible Education Services to contact your medical provider.

Accessible Education Services seeks to ensure consistency in evaluating requests while simultaneously exploring each individual situation before making recommendations to Residence Life and Housing. It is our practice to determine the housing accommodation that provides the most traditional Willamette college experience. The learning environment and residential living are central to the Willamette University experience and mission. On-campus residences provide out-of-class living and learning spaces where socialization occurs; they are not the primary resource for studying. (See WU study areas.)

The process for seeking housing accommodations due to disability can be lengthy. We encourage you to submit your request as early as possible. If submitted less than a month in advance of move-in or housing selection, the request will still be considered, but options for accommodation will be considerably more limited. Approval may take longer if the documentation does not fully support the request as necessary due to a disability.


2. Emotional Support Animals in Campus Residences

The following forms are referenced in the Emotional Support Animal Guidelines and are used in the process of requesting an ESA:

Under the Fair Housing Act (FHA), a person with a disability may keep an emotional support animal (ESA) in the individual’s dwelling when there is an established need for the therapeutic nature of the animal that is connected to the individual’s disability. Refer to Willamette's Emotional Support Animal Guidelines to learn about ESAs and the process of requesting ESAs in campus residences. A student may qualify for this accommodation if: (1) the student has a documented diagnosis; (2) the animal is necessary to afford the student with an equal opportunity to use and enjoy their dwelling; (3) there is an identifiable and documented nexus between the diagnosis and the assistance that the animal provides. The Residence Life and Housing office will be in contact regarding ESA responsibilities and registration upon approval from Accessibility Education Services.


3. Service Animals on Campus

Students with disabilities who require the use of service animals are permitted to bring such animals on campus provided they do not pose a substantial and direct threat to health or safety of others, and provided that the presence of the animal does not constitute a fundamental alteration to the nature of Willamette’s policies, practices, or procedures, including Willamette’s academic requirements.

Students wishing to utilize a service animal in campus housing are encouraged take the following steps:

  1. Review Willamette's Service Animal Guidelines for detailed information on bringing service animals to campus.
  2. We encourage students to contact the Residence Life and Housing office at 503-370-6212 to register their animal prior to arrival. Students who choose to register their animal will be asked for information included in this sample registration form.
  3. Review the Service Animal Owner Responsibilities in Campus Residences document.

We also encourage those students to contact the Office of Accessible Education Services at 503-370-6737 or accessible-info@willamette.edu.


4. Flex Attendance Policy and Guidelines

Students are responsible to attend classes regularly and meet all deadlines for assignments and exams. Faculty have the right to establish policies to regulate attendance, assignment due dates, and tests. However, if a student has a disability or health condition that is episodic or cyclical in nature and causes random flare-ups of acute symptoms, they may occasionally miss class or fail to adhere to a scheduled deadline. In these instances, modifying attendance requirements, assignment deadlines and/or exam dates, may be considered a reasonable accommodation. The number of reasonable absences and lengths of extensions will vary and is based on the interactive or participatory nature of a course, as well as any applicable college, department, and accrediting agency regulations. Please read our Flex Accommodations Policy and Guidelines for clarification around roles and expectations of students and instructors.

To request this accommodation, please download and complete the form above. Upon completion of this form, please make an appointment to see the Assistant Director/Director of Accessibility Education Services.

For Faculty: Once a Flex Accommodation has been granted, professors will complete and return the Accommodation Agreement Form. This form covers both attendance and deadline extension accommodations.


5. Remote Attendance Policy

For Students Seeking a Remote Attendance Accommodation: Please check out our remote attendance policy above for further information and how to request this accommodation.


6. Foreign Language Requirement Substitution Policy

Qualifying for a Substitution

To qualify for a substitution to the Study in a Language Other than English requirement students should have a recent full psycho-educational or neuropsychological assessment and there must be a clearly demonstrated need, such as a significant impairment in phonemic ability, processing speed, auditory memory and retrieval, working memory, etc., that cannot be successfully addressed by accommodations for the class.

Accessible Education Services (AES) personnel will review all disability documentation, history of language learning and related information to determine if there is a body of documentation sufficient for determining eligibility for a language learning substitution. A waiver of language learning in high school alone does not ensure eligibility.

Procedure

Students seeking a substitution for the requirement are encouraged to complete a petition as early as possible after enrollment at Willamette University. They will begin the process by presenting documentation to Accessible Education Services, and their eligibility will be determined. If an exception is granted, the Registrar will note the exception on the degree audit as well as the approved substitution courses.

Form of Substitution

Students receiving an exception to the foreign language requirement may instead take two courses, including any combination of particular language courses as well as courses that focus on the language, history, art, religion, philosophy, cinema, politics, economics, society, or culture of peoples whose experiences are rooted in the same language other than English. At most, one of these courses may be a traditional language course. The goal of these courses would be to expand students’ cross-cultural awareness and knowledge. Students will work with their academic advisor to determine which courses will be used for substitution. These courses will be approved by the two Associate Deans and a representative from one of the foreign language departments, and will be listed on the student’s degree audit.

The two-part petition form will be provided through the AES office and the Associate Dean for Curriculum and Student Success.

Willamette University

Accessible Education Services

Salem Campus

Address
Smullin 155
900 State Street
Salem Oregon 97301 U.S.A.
Phone
503-370-6737 voice
503-370-6647 fax

Portland Campus

Address
Room 270
Pacific Northwest College of Art
511 NW Broadway
Portland Oregon 97227 U.S.A.

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