Rights & Responsibilities

Rights and Responsibilities of the University

The following enumeration of rights and responsibilities is intended to provide a general overview of the respective roles of the University and the student. It is not intended to be a complete or exclusive list.

Elon University:

has the right to identify and establish the abilities, skills, and knowledge necessary for success in its programs and to evaluate applicants and students on this basis;

has the right to identify and establish the abilities, skills and knowledge that are fundamental to academic programs and courses and to evaluate each student’s performance against these standards. Fundamental program and course standards are not subject to modifications;

has the right to request and receive documentation that supports requests for reasonable accommodations for individuals with a disability;

has the right to select from among effective reasonable accommodations for individuals with a disability;

has the right to refuse an unreasonable accommodation or one that imposes an undue hardship on the University;

has the right and the responsibility to engage in an interactive dialogue process to identify appropriate reasonable accommodations;

has the responsibility to evaluate applicants based solely on their abilities. If an evaluation method or criterion unfairly discriminates against an individual with a disability, the University may seek reasonable alternatives;

has the responsibility to ensure that its programs viewed in their entirety, including but not limited to academic offerings, housing, transportation, student organizations, counseling, and placement, are accessible and usable;

has the responsibility to adjust or substitute any academic requirement that illegally discriminates against a student with a disability and that is not essential to the integrity of the student’s academic program;

has the responsibility to identify for students the procedures for requesting an accommodation. If a request for accommodation is denied, Elon has the responsibility to inform the individual of his or her right to appeal the decision and the procedures for initiating an appeal.

has the responsibility to educate and provide consultation to University faculty and staff on general disability matters.

Rights and Responsibilities of Individuals with Disabilities

Qualified Individuals with Disabilities:

have the right to an opportunity to participate meaningfully in and benefit from programs offered at Elon University. This includes access to services, benefits, co-curricular activities, housing, and transportation, that when viewed in their entirety, are comparable to those provided to any student;

have the right to confidentiality and the right to choose to whom information about their disability will be disclosed (except in the case of a health or safety emergency, as permitted by law);

have the right to an opportunity to learn. In order to ensure this, they have a right to reasonable accommodations;

have the right to access published information regarding procedures for requesting accommodations;

have the right to be informed of procedures for initiating an appeal of a decision regarding accommodations;

have the right and the responsibility to engage in an interactive process to identify appropriate reasonable accommodations related to their disability;

have the same responsibility as all students to meet and maintain the institution’s academic standards;

have the responsibility to inform the appropriate university personnel (Disabilities Resources staff members) of the disability and to advocate for their own individual needs and to seek information, counsel, and assistance as necessary to be effective self-advocates;

have the responsibility to self-disclose a disability and to demonstrate and document how their disability substantially limits their ability to benefit from a particular delivery system, instructional method, or evaluation criterion when they make a request for accommodations. Students requesting accommodations must provide documentation of need from an appropriate professional, such as a psychologist, learning disabilities specialist, or medical doctor (when the disability is health related), dated within the four years prior to enrollment at Elon;

have the responsibility to follow published procedures for making accommodation requests and to do so in a timely fashion;

have the responsibility of promptly informing Disabilities Resources of any difficulty in receiving the approved accommodation(s).

have the responsibility to follow published procedures for filing an appeal.