Faculty Responsibilities

Core Responsibilities

Faculty play a crucial role in ensuring an accessible and equitable learning experience for all students. This requires collaboration and timely action.

  • Collaborate for Accessibility: Work with students with disabilities and the Office of Disability Services to create accessible classroom and learning experiences.
  • Provide Timely Accommodations: Implement the approved accommodations as they are outlined on the student’s Accommodation Letter in a timely manner.

Use an Accessibility Syllabus Statement

A clearly welcoming environment encourages students to feel comfortable requesting accommodations. Placing an accessibility statement on your syllabus is the most effective way to:

  • Encourage Early Disclosure: Prompts students to identify their needs and submit their request as soon as possible.
  • Establish Collaboration: Frames the process as a partnership between you, the student, and ODS.

Students who qualify for accommodations will electronically send their Accommodation Letter to you via the DS Portal. This official letter outlines their specific, documented needs.

Quick Tips for Implementation

  • Add a Statement: Encourage students to approach you as soon as possible by placing a clear accessibility statement on your syllabus (see example below).
  • Maintain Privacy: Be available for accommodation conversations with students during office hours or scheduled appointments. This ensures a private setting, in accordance with FERPA regulations.

Sample Syllabus Statement:

UNC Charlotte is committed to accessibility in education. If you have a disability and need academic accommodations, send me your Accommodation Letter through the DS Portal as early as possible. I encourage you to meet with me to discuss the accommodations outlined in your letter. For more information about accommodations, contact the Office of Disability Services at 704-687-0040 or disability@charlotte.edu.

Protecting Student Privacy

Students with disabilities have a right to privacy regarding their disability status, as protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

Student and Accommodations: What is Private?

1. Information Kept Private (The Student’s Rights)

This section addresses what the student is protected from sharing and what is excluded from the Accommodation Letter.

  • Diagnosis Not Required: Students are not required to disclose the nature of their disability to instructors.
  • Confidentiality of Diagnosis: For this reason, a student’s specific diagnosis is not included in the Accommodation Letter.

2. Faculty Responsibility: Prohibited Disclosures (FERPA)

This section addresses the faculty actions that would violate privacy.

  • Accommodation Letter: The information in the letter should not be shared without the student’s prior written permission.
  • Avoid Public Disclosure: Identifying a student to peers or making comments about a student’s disability in class violates the student’s right to privacy (FERPA).
The Exception: Sharing with Your TA

Instructors are responsible for sharing relevant information from the Accommodation Letter with TAs whose duties include implementing or overseeing a student’s accommodations.

  • Example: TAs who administer tests will need to know about a student’s testing accommodations.

When Talking with a Student

When discussing accommodations with a student, always:

  • Focus on Accommodations: Direct your conversations and questions on how to best provide the accommodations within your course context—not on the nature of the disability itself.

Accommodation Letters via the DS Portal

Disability Services (DS) staff determine appropriate accommodations based on the student’s documentation. These pre-approved accommodations are outlined in the student’s Accommodation Letter.

The Faculty Process

  1. Notification: Students will electronically send their Accommodation Letters to you via the DS Portal system, and you will be notified via email.
  2. Required Action: Instructors should review and acknowledge receipt of the student’s accommodations through the DS Faculty Portal. Acknowledging receipt generates an automated email confirmation to the student.
  3. Crucial Compliance Note: You are responsible for providing the outlined accommodations starting from the date of the letter, even if you do not formally acknowledge receipt in the DS Portal.

Key Points for Accommodations

  • Timing: Accommodations may be requested by the student at any point in the semester.
  • Retroactivity: Accommodations are not retroactive (i.e., they apply only from the date the letter is issued to the instructor forward).
  • Grading: Grade the performance of a student with disabilities as you would all other students—based on course standards.
  • DS Support: Disability Services staff act as a resource for faculty and staff. We encourage you to contact us with any disability-related questions.