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Regulations & Policies

Human Resources

I. OBJECTIVE & PURPOSE

The University is committed to nondiscrimination and to ensuring equal access to University programs, activities services, and employment opportunities for qualified individuals with disabilities. The University complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and all other applicable federal, state, and local laws, as amended.

II. STATEMENT OF REGULATION

1. Reasonable Accommodations for Employment 
   

   The ADA Compliance Office processes requests from employees for reasonable accommodations, including student employees, staff, and faculty members. In the employment context, a qualified individual with a disability means an individual with a disability that substantially limits one or more major life activities who meets the legitimate skill, experience, education, and other requirements of the position and can perform the essential functions of the job, with or without reasonable accommodations. The ADA Compliance Office staff will engage in an interactive dialogue with an employee who requests an ADA accommodation to determine what accommodations may be provided. The employee will be asked to provide medical documentation about their disability and functional limitations, unless it is an obvious disability, such as blindness. The documentation will be kept in a confidential file in the respective office. A request is not reasonable if it imposes an undue hardship on the University. The University may also offer effective accommodations other than the specific accommodation requested by the employee.
   

2. Reasonable Accommodations and Auxiliary Aids or Service for Students
   The Student Accessibility Center (SAC) receives requests from students for reasonable accommodations and appropriate auxiliary aids and services. SAC provides reasonable accommodations for students.  A qualified student with a disability is a person with a disability that substantially limits one or more major life activities and meets the academic and technical standards requisite for admission or participation in the University's educational programs or activities.

   Students are responsible for requesting accommodations and auxiliary aids and services. As part of the request and interactive dialogue between the student and Student Accessibility Center, the student may be required to provide documentation to support the request, which will be kept in a confidential file.

   Reasonable accommodations for students can include, for example, modification or adjustments to a course, policies, practices, and procedures to enable the student equal access and enjoyment of the same benefits and privileges available to similarly-situated students without disabilities. Students may also request appropriate auxiliary aids and services, such as an interpreter in a course, computer programs, and braille materials. Please visit the Student Accessibility Center webpage at /sac/ for more information on potential accommodations and auxiliary aids and services.

   Accommodations and auxiliary aids and services are intended to provide equal access to University programs, activities, and services. An accommodation cannot fundamentally alter the nature of a program or impose an undue financial or administrative burden. The student is responsible for providing their own auxiliary aids for personal services, such as personal attendants, individually prescribed devices like hearing aids, mobility devices, and readers for personal use, as well as other devices or services of a personal nature.   

3. Student Admissions, Transfers, and Graduation
   

   A qualified individual with a disability may request reasonable substitutions or modifications to any requirement for admission into an undergraduate or graduate program of study, for entry into the upper division, or for graduation. To be eligible for such a substitution or modification, the individual must provide documentation that they are disabled and their inability to meet the requirement is related to the disability. Standards for documentation required for specific learning disabilities shall include, at a minimum, intelligence, achievement, and processing assessment using adult-normed instruments with information about functional limitations.
   
   In determining whether to grant a substitution or modification, the University will consider pertinent documents provided by the individual including, but not limited to assessments administered and interpreted by a licensed psychologist or interns supervised by a licensed psychologist; a physician or other qualified professional's statement; vocational rehabilitation records; school records maintained as a result of the exceptional child provisions of Public Law 94-142; military/Veterans Administration records; Board of Governors regulations; or statewide articulation documents. Each request will be determined on an individual basis. The University will accept all reasonable substitutions previously granted by a Florida postsecondary institution. Substitutions and modifications will not be granted if they would result in a fundamental alteration in the nature of the program.

4. Students' Consideration Appeal Committee
   The University will make information regarding the substitution and modification process available to students through the Student Handbook and the admissions section of the University website. To make a request for a substitution or modification, an individual must contact the Disability Consideration Appeals Committee at DCAC@unf.edu. An individual may appeal a denial of a substitution, modification, or determination of eligibility by contacting ADA.DCAC@unf.edu.
   

5. Architectural and Other Barriers on University Premises 
   

   The University strives to continuously improve the seamless accessibility of its campus, programs, activities, and services. If there are architectural or other barriers to equal access that you have encountered on University premises, please contact the ADA Compliance Office for the appropriate action to be taken.

6.  Equal Access to Programs, Events, Activities, and Services
   

   The University has a broad array of extracurricular programs, events, facilities, and services open to the public for both on-campus and off-campus venues. Employees and students should follow the processes outlined above to request reasonable accommodations and/or auxiliary aids and services if needed to participate in such offerings. Visitors who are not ³ÉÈË´óƬemployees or students may contact the event coordinator or host to request reasonable accommodation and/or auxiliary aids and services. The requestor must meet the essential eligibility requirements for participation, and if the disability is not obvious, the participant may be asked to submit documentation supporting the request by the ADA Compliance or SAC staff.  The documentation will be kept in a confidential file in the ADA Compliance office. Requests must not fundamentally alter the nature of the program, activity, or service or impose an undue financial or administrative burden.

   The sponsor of a program, activity, or service is responsible for securing and providing the funds for the necessary auxiliary aids, services or reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities to effectively participate in offerings, in consultation with the ADA Compliance Office and Student Accessibility Services. Accommodations may not fundamentally alter the nature of the program, activity, or service or impose an undue financial or administrative burden. 

   The sponsor must utilize the following language in all advertisements, brochures or other materials regarding the program, activity, or service:

   "If you have a disability and require an accommodation for this occasion, please contact (sponsor's name and telephone number) five days before the event to enable us to provide you with a reasonable accommodation for the event."

7. Reporting Concerns Regarding Compliance with Disability Laws
   If an individual believes they have been subject to discrimination based on their disability, have been denied a reasonable accommodation or auxiliary aids or services, or otherwise denied equal access to the University's program, activities, and services, that individual may with the University's Office of Title IX and Civil Rights.

III. ADDITIONAL REGULATIONS AND POLICIES ADDRESSING DISABILITIES 

For additional regulations and policies addressing matters related to disabilities, please refer to the following:

• Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility for Information and Communication Technology (ICT), 6.0240P.
• Nondiscrimination and Equal Opportunity Regulation, 1.0040R.
• Service, Assistance, and Other Animals on Campus, 6.0210R.
• Parking Regulations, 9.0010R.

IV. CONTACT INFORMATION 

ADA Compliance Office
Building 6, Room 1314
Phone (Voice): (904) 620-2870
adacompliance@unf.edu
Florida Customer Service 866-462-6509 (Voice/TTY) 711

Department of Housing and Residence Life
Building 14b
Phone: (904) 620-4663
housing@unf.edu 

Adopted by the ³ÉÈË´óƬ Board of Trustees as part of the University's Personnel Program on January 26, 2006.
Formerly 4.002

Approved by the BOT September 22, 2022.

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