On September 22nd, Dean of the College Jill Dolan, Senior Associate Dean of the College Claire Fowler, and Director of the Office of Disability Services Liz Erickson sent a memo to all faculty members outlining University policies for academic accommodations.
The memo states that “Princeton University is committed to ensuring equal access to its educational programs for students with disabilities, while also maintaining the essential nature of the undergraduate academic program” and clarifies that “accommodations that would fundamentally alter essential elements of a Princeton degree, however, are not considered reasonable.” Examples of “essential” academic requirements include “attending class, taking in-class examinations if required, being engaged in a full-time course load, completing departmental requirements, or making adequate progress toward the degree.”
The memo stresses that “the University provides accommodations to ensure equal access to a Princeton education, not to ensure that individual students can achieve a particular outcome, such as receiving A grades in their coursework” and “[faculty] should not provide academic accommodations that have not been identified and approved by [Office of Disability Services].”
On September 2nd, the University issued a memo to all faculty on updated COVID-19 policies for the fall semester and explained that faculty “aren’t required to open a Zoom window for students in COVID isolation or to accommodate any other form of absence.” The University has previously encouraged faculty to offer a Zoom option for students sick with COVID-19, but faculty reported low levels of engagement, “significant learning loss,” and “feeling overwhelmed by the endless stream of requests from students asking you to open a Zoom link for a myriad of reasons other than COVID.”
The September 22nd email also included a second PDF detailing the differences between service animals, which are trained to assist with tasks, and untrained assistance animals, which “alleviate one or more identified symptoms or effects of a person’s disability.” Service animals are permitted in most University buildings, with exceptions where health, safety, and research may be compromised, whereas assistance animals are generally only permitted in a student’s dorm.
The Tory obtained copies of the memos, which are attached in full below:
Fall 2022 Teaching Memo, COVID update, 2 September 2022
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YfxlQVROoXsdFGOWAmBMMD1sPXe9XqLR/view?usp=sharing
Academic accommodations for students with disabilities Fall 2022 9-22-22
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZYfgE0jd-ChYgMQlXKoiz6NZt1vsSvsL/view?usp=sharing
Assistance animals memo 2022 9-22-22
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1au5c_QjkEf4aME4-jArYep4YsBr4_uAC/view?usp=sharing
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