Admissions- College Wide Policies

Grievance Procedure for Students with Disabilities:

A student with a documented disability shall have an internal means of resolving any claim of discrimination on the basis of disability in the programs or activities of the College.

Any student with a documented disability who has requested reasonable accommodations through the Special Needs Counselor and feels that accommodations provided were inappropriate or that they have been denied access to programs and services offered by the College may submit a written statement to the ADA Compliance Coordinator within 20 business days of the alleged violation. The ADA Compliance Coordinator is located in the Counseling Center at the Locust Grove Campus.

At level one of the grievance, the ADA Compliance Coordinator may choose to resolve the complaint informally by consulting with the appropriate instructor, Dean of Student Services, Special Needs Counselor, and/or the Dean of Instruction. If the ADA Compliance Coordinator is unable to resolve the grievance at level one, he/she may submit the student's grievance to the Vice President of Academic Services. The ADA Compliance Coordinator has ten business days to respond in writing to inform the student of the resolution of the grievance at the first level or to inform the student the grievance has been referred to the Vice President of Academic Services.

The Vice President of Academic Services shall investigate complaints submitted by the ADA Compliance Coordinator and shall respond in writing to the student within 10 business days. During the investigation, accommodations will be provided to the student based on the recommendation of the Special Needs Counselor. The student has five business days to appeal the Committee's decision in writing to the President of the College, which is the third and final level of the internal grievance process.

The President will issue a written decision within ten business days of receipt of the appeal letter from the student. Decisions of the President are final and any further appeal must be pursued through external channels.

Appeals processed through this policy cannot be heard under any general grievance procedure.

At any level, both parties may request an extension of time in writing. Both parties must agree to the extension. The ADA Compliance Coordinator shall maintain records of all grievance proceedings and inform all persons involved of the results within ten days of the President's decision.

Procedures for Employees

Discrimination on the basis of disability is a violation of the Americans With Disability Act of 1991, as well as the State's Standards of Conduct as set forth the Department of Human Resources Policy Manual, and is specifically addressed in Policy 2.05. Employees may seek resolution of discrimination issues through the State's Employees' Discrimination Complaint Procedures (administered by the Department of Human Resource Management's Office of Equal Employment Services), utilize the Grievance Procedure for State Employees (if eligible to do so), or file a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Employees may also seek resolution of discrimination issues through the aforementioned internal process.