Monday, December 19, 2016
The Justice Department announced today that it reached an agreement with Princeton University to resolve a compliance review initiated in May 2014 regarding Princeton's treatment of students with mental health disabilities and its policies and practices related to requests for reasonable modifications, withdrawals and leaves of absence. The agreement details specific steps Princeton will take to strengthen its policies, practices and training to benefit all current and future Princeton students with disabilities.
Under the agreement, Princeton will revise its policies to explicitly describe: the types of accommodations students with disabilities may request, including modifications to university policies, rules and regulations; where students may submit each type of accommodation request; and how Princeton will evaluate those requests. The agreement also requires Princeton to revise the websites for its Office of Disability Services and its Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students to direct students to relevant policies and procedures related to requesting reasonable accommodations. Under the agreement, Princeton must also revise its leave policy and practices, consistent with regulations implementing Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and provide annual training, including references to updated policies, on Title III of the ADA, with a focus on mental health disability discrimination, to all faculty and staff responsible for evaluating and/or deciding requests from students for reasonable accommodations.
To find out more about this agreement or the ADA,
call the Justice Department's toll-free ADA information line at 1-800-514-0301 or 1-800-514-0383 (TDD), or access its ADA website.
Article Credit: U.S. Department of Justice