1. Offices
  2. Academic Support Services

Faculty Resource Guide

Pitzer College faculty play a very important role in promoting access for students with disabilities and accommodation needs. We encourage students who are registered with Pitzer Academic Support Services (PASS) to work with their faculty at the beginning of each semester to ensure that they receive the accommodations they need to provide them with equal access to their education.

PASS serves more than 150 students with various disabilities and access needs each year. These needs include, but are not limited to, learning disabilities, visual impairments, hearing impairments, physical impairments, mental health disabilities, and other health-related needs. We work with students on an individual basis to determine which accommodations they need and provide them accordingly.

The information in this guide is intended to provide faculty with more in-depth information and resources to foster an accessible learning environment when working with students registered with PASS. PASS staff are also available for faculty consultations and presentations on accommodation and other access-related topics.

Faculty Roles, Rights, and Responsibilities

Faculty Roles

Our faculty play an important role in ensuring a learning environment that is accessible to all. As a faculty member, your responsibilities include:

  • Making reasonable accommodations
  • Providing access to classroom and learning materials
  • Maintaining confidentiality

While it is the faculty’s responsibility to ensure that the learning environment is accessible, students with documented needs must request accommodations, when needed and in advance. Faculty will find it useful to include a statement on their syllabus which informs students about the steps they need to take to receive classroom accommodations through PASS.

In certain situations, reasonable accommodations may require modification of standard classroom approaches. The following are examples of accommodations that may be necessary to ensure equal access:

  • Provide necessary accommodations for exams or provide the exam to Testing Center for accommodations needed to proctor exam administration
  • Provide alternative ways to fulfill course requirements
  • Allow assistive technology such as audio recorders, electronic note takers, and laptop computers to be used in the classroom
  • Consider alternate ways of assessing student’s knowledge of the course content which allows the student’s academic abilities to be measured

Confidentiality in the accommodation process must be maintained by all parties. Letters of accommodation should be filed in a safe place, and faculty should refrain from discussing students’ disabilities and necessary accommodations in the presence of fellow students or others who do not have an “educational need to know.”

PASS staff are always available to answer questions and serve as a resource for faculty seeking assistance in providing accommodations to students.

Faculty Rights

Faculty members have the right to:

  • Maintain academic standards for courses
  • Determine course content and how it will be taught
  • Confirm a student’s accommodations and ask for clarification about a specific accommodation (listed on the student’s accommodation letter) with PASS
  • Deny a request for accommodation — if the student has not been approved for such accommodation by PASS and/or if an accommodation letter has not been received via email through the online accommodation system (AIM).
  • Award grades appropriate to the level of the student’s demonstration of mastery of material
  • Fail a student who does not perform to passing standards

Faculty members do not have the right to:

  • Refuse to provide an approved accommodation for a documented disability
  • Challenge the legitimacy of a student’s disability
  • Request or review a student’s medical documentation, including diagnostic data

Faculty Responsibilities

Faculty members have the responsibility to:

  • Understand the laws and College guidelines regarding students with accommodations
  • Refer students to PASS when necessary
  • Provide requested accommodations and academic adjustments to students who have documented disabilities (and provide their accommodations letter to faculty) in a timely manner
  • Maintain appropriate confidentiality of records concerning students with disabilities except when disclosure is required by law or authorized by the student
  • Provide handouts, videos and other course materials in accessible formats

Syllabus Statement

PASS recommends that each course syllabus contain a statement reflecting compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Ideally, faculty should provide a detailed syllabus that includes course objectives, weekly topics, classroom activities, required reading and writing assignments, dates of tests, quizzes; this provides valuable information to all students and allows students with disabilities to identify the accommodations they will need to request for that class as well as arrange for materials in an alternate format, if necessary. Whenever possible, provide syllabi and other course materials in an electronic format to provide direct access.

Below are sample statements faculty may use to open the lines of communication regarding necessary accommodations and encourage students with disabilities to seek assistance early in the semester:

  • If you have a disability for which you are or may be requesting an accommodation, you are encouraged to contact both your faculty and the Pitzer Academic Support Services by email at academicsupport@photographywaltz.com at the beginning of the semester if you have not already registered for accommodations.
  • Students with disabilities are asked to contact the faculty during office hours to discuss their disability/accommodation-related needs. Use of Academic Support Services, including testing accommodations, requires prior authorization by PASS and compliance with approved procedures.
  • It is the college’s policy to provide, on a flexible and individualized basis, reasonable accommodations to students who have disabilities that may affect their ability to participate in course activities or to meet course requirements.

We also encourage faculty members to make textbook selections as far in advance as possible and to avoid changing the selections unless there are compelling reasons.