Procedures for Requesting Extraordinary Accommodations to the General Education Communications and Quantitative Reasoning Requirements
9/21/98 Communication and quantitative reasoning skills are essential components of an undergraduate education at the University of Wisconsin--Madison. The importance of these skills was affirmed when they became degree requirements by action of the Faculty Senate in 1994.
In December 1996, the Committee on Access and Accommodation approved a subcommittee report outlining ordinary kinds of accommodation suitable for meeting the communications and quantitative reasoning requirements. Stating that waivers of these requirements would fundamentally alter the nature of the UW‹Madison degree, the report instead recognized, as the ordinary forms of acceptable accommodation, various appropriate choices of courses, exemptions by testing, transfer of courses, and modifications within existing courses Because the communications and quantitative reasoning requirements are campus-wide and need to be satisfied equitably and uniformly across campus, the committee recommended that any appeals for different, extraordinary accommodations should not be acted upon by individual departments, schools, or colleges, but should be handled on a case-by-case basis by the Committee on Access and Accommodation, the relevant campus-wide standing committee. The December 1996 report and its recommendations have subsequently been accepted by the University Academic Planning Council and approved as university policy."
The following procedure has been developed solely for the purpose of addressing requests for extraordinary accommodations to the communications and quantitative reasoning portions of the general education requirements.
Procedures
The appeals subcommittee of the Committee on Access and Accommodation will review requests for extraordinary accommodations to the communication or quantitative reasoning requirement. A representative from the dean's office of the applicable school or college will be invited to participate in the subcommittee's discussion. All of the following documentation must be forwarded to the subcommittee:
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A written request from the student for extraordinary accommodations to a specific requirement, along with any relevant supporting documentation (i.e., placement test scores; high school record; ACT, SAT, or other standardized test scores; all college or university transcripts), must be included.
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Evidence must be presented on behalf of the student that he or she has actively pursued suitable accommodation. Such evidence should include information from the McBurney Disability Resource Center and the student's academic advisor. Information from relevant instructors may also be included.
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Documentation from the McBurney Disability Resource Center will include (a) the nature of the disability and its relevance to the requirement, (b) a description of the accommodations previously recommended and/or implemented within the full range of approved classes, and (c) a statement regarding the likelihood of the student satisfying the requirement with the provision of the proposed accommodations.
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Since the proceedings are not intended to be adversarial, but are a review of the grounds for extraordinary accommodation, a student may request to make a brief presentation before the committee.
The subcommittee chair will initially review the documentation. If sufficient documentation, as outlined in this section, is not present, the appeal will not be heard and the material will be returned to the student with an indication of what additional information is needed.
Deadlines and Appeals
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Requests for extraordinary accommodations to the Communication and Quantitative Reasoning requirements should be presented before the end of the second year of the student's UW‹Madison enrollment but in no event during the last semester before the student expects to graduate.
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Such requests must be submitted by Friday of the fourth week of the Fall or Spring semester in order to guarantee action within that semester.
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The subcommittee will meet to consider completed requests within 30 days of the deadline. A written decision will be sent to the college and the student within 10 days of the meeting.
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Students may appeal the decision of the subcommittee to the UW--Madison ADA coordinator within 30 days after the date of the decision. This appeal is a review of the record furnished by the subcommittee for the purpose of determining whether all applicable procedures have been followed. It does not include an opportunity to submit additional evidence or documentation.
Subcommittee Members:
Richard A. Brualdi
John C. Dowling
David Griffeath
Bill Miller
Edna Mora Szymanski
Cathy Trueba
Nancy Westphal-Johnson