Deadlines for submitting completed requests

Completed requests include a request made in Accommodate as an Intake Survey or as a Supplemental Request, verification documentation, and a meeting with the Director of SASS if required.

  • Full academic year (fall/spring semester) for current or returning students: Feb. 1
  • Summer, all students: April 1*
  • Full academic year (fall/spring semester) for first-year/transfer/readmitted students: June 1
  • Spring semester only, new applicants, transfer/readmitted and returning off-campus study students: Nov. 1

*Summer requests are for emotional support animals and housing only as all students are off the meal plan and placed in apartments. 

Steps to Request

  1. Request: To request a program accommodation log into Accommodate and complete the appropriate request. Complete a SASS Intake Survey if you have not already completed one in the past. If you are requesting a program accommodation for the first time or renewing but are already registered with our office, please select "Supplemental/ Additional New Accommodation Request."
  2. Verification: Your health provider must complete the housing, ESA and/or meal plan verification form by the deadlines above. Log into Accommodate and upload your verification form by selecting your "documents" tab. The verification form can be faxed to 740-427-5523 or emailed to sass@kenyon.edu. (see below for detailed scanning instructions).
  3. Schedule a meeting with the director of SASS using the Appointment menu item in Accommodate to review your request. Please contact sass@kenyon.edu if you are unable to schedule a meeting during this time.
  4. If you are renewing a previously approved accommodation please indicate this renewal on the request. Renewal of a program accommodation may not require a meeting with the director of SASS or additional documentation. SASS will contact you if further information or if a meeting is required.
  5. Once your request is reviewed by the Program Accommodation Committee, SASS will email a determination letter and notify Residential Life/AVI (dining services) of all approved accommodations. Please see the appeal process below. 

Program accommodations requested after the deadlines will be considered but cannot be guaranteed. 

Submitting a request for a reasonable program accommodation does not guarantee approval. Students must complete the program accommodation request process and receive approval before engaging in any behaviors related to the requested program accommodation

Please contact sass@kenyon.edu if you require an alternate format to access the forms.

Documentation Details

Documentation must:

  • Show that the requested accommodation is necessary to provide equal access to the college residential living space, allow students to use and enjoy their residential living space, and/or provide access to the College’s programs and/or facilities;
  • Identify an identifiable relationship, or nexus, between the requested accommodation and the diagnosed disability;
  • Be completed by a treating health care provider who specializes in a field consistent with the diagnosis;
  • To avoid conflict of interest, documentation must be provided by a non-family health care provider;
  • All treating health care providers must have an ongoing relationship with the student.*

*An ongoing relationship is defined by the Cox Health and Counseling Center at Kenyon, as at least three counseling sessions in a three-month period, with the most recent session occurring within the last month of the requested accommodation.

Should additional information be needed, the student may be asked to sign a release of information so that the College may verify the disability and/or that the requested program accommodation is necessary for them to use and enjoy their residential living space, by alleviating one or more identified symptoms or effects of their disability.  

  • The director of SASS will involve a health care professional from the Health and Counseling Center, as well as staff members from the Office of Housing and Residential Life to determine reasonable and necessary accommodations, as necessary.
  • Unless there are exigent circumstances, the SASS Office will provide a written response for all completed applications, as defined above, within 10 business days of the next application due date (Feb. 1, April 1, June 1 or Nov. 1). Upon approval, this written response will include the student’s program accommodation, including, whenever possible, the student’s housing assignment. Upon denial or disagreement with the decision, see the appeals process below.

The American with Disabilities Act (ADA) defines a person with a disability as someone who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. The three factors influencing a determination of substantial limitation are 1) the nature and severity of the impairment, 2) the duration or expected duration of the impairment, and 3) whether the impairment is characterized as permanent or long-term.

Appeals

If the director of SASS, in consultation with a medical professional from the Health and Counseling Center, as well as staff members from the Office of Residential Life, find that a requested program accommodation is not necessary and/or unreasonable, the student may file a written appeal with the dean of student development within five (5) business days of the decision. The appeal will be considered only on the basis of written materials, information and/or documentation only.

The appeal must be based upon one or more of the following criteria:

  • Procedural error(s) made in the consideration of the request

  • New information unavailable at the time of the request (i.e. updated medical information)

  • The decision was clearly erroneous based on the written record

Upon receipt of the appeal, the dean of student development will review all of the relevant information and provide a written response within five (5) business days either granting the appeal and modifying the initial decision, or denying the appeal and maintaining the initial decision. The dean’s decision shall be final.

Nothing in the policy shall prohibit a student who believes that they may have been subjected to disability discrimination to utilize the College’s Section 504 Grievance Procedures and/or to pursue a complaint with the Office for Civil Rights.

Additional Information

Students must complete the request/form for the academic term(s) for which they are requesting a program accommodation. Kenyon reserves the right to revise this policy at any time, as circumstances require.

Scanning Documents to Upload into Accommodate

Scanning Documents on an iPhone

The iPhone "notes" application allows you to scan documentation for upload right on your phone.

  1. On your iPhone, open the notes application
  2. Create a new note
  3. Touch the camera icon and select "scan documents."
  4. Take a picture of your document. The iPhone should automatically align the corners with the document, but if it doesn't, you can manually adjust it to fit the paper.
  5. Once completed, your phone will say "Ready for next scan." Select the "save" button on the bottom right corner of the screen and your scan will appear in your notes folder.

Scanning Documents on an Android

  1. Open the Google Drive application
  2. In the bottom right, select the "+" sign
  3. Select the camera icon to scan
  4. Take a photo of the document you'd like to scan (to adjust scan area select "Crop;" to take the photo again select "Re-scan current page;" to scan another page select "Add."
  5. To save the finished document, select "Done." The document is now saved in your Google Drive account.