Academic Success & Accessibility
Contact Information
Kathy Meier
Director of Academic Success & Accessibility
Ph: (406) 771-4311
F: (406) 771-4342
Location: A116 on the first level of Weaver Library
Quick Links
How Do I File a Grievance?
Conduct Guidelines and Grievance Procedures for students may be found at:
The Academic Success and Accessibility office at Great Falls College MSU offers support services to any qualified student with a disability who requests such services. It is each student’s responsibility to make use of these services. Each student is reminded that he is ultimately responsible for his academic success and/or failure. Each student must take the initiative to use time, facilities, and support services in a productive manner. Each student is responsible for his own work and grade in each course.
Also, the Academic Success and Accessibility Office offers direction in securing guidance in academic and personal matters. Again, it is each student’s responsibility to make use of these services. The Academic Success and Accessibility office will not be held responsible for acts of misconduct committed by any student.
It is the responsibility of each student to know and abide by all Great Falls College MSU’s policies, rules, and regulations. Each student must take the initiative to familiarize himself with these policies, rules, and regulations. Failure to do so will not exclude the student from reprimand or any other consequence of violating any Great Falls College’s policy, rule, or regulations.
In the event a disability-related problem arises, please contact the Director of Academic Success and Accessibility. If the Director is not able to help you resolve the complaint, all reports or any concerns about conduct that may violate this policy and retaliation should be reported to:
Rachell Rivers
Human Resources Manager
www.gfcmsu.edu
406-268-3701
Students may also file a complaint with:
U. S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights – Seattle Office
915 Second Avenue, Room 3310
Seattle, WA 98174-1099
Voice: 206-607-1600
Fax: 206-607-1601
TDD: 206-607-1647
Resources for Students
How to Request Accommodations
- Accommodation requests must be made in advance of the need (preferably at the beginning of each semester). Remember, services are not retroactive. Please schedule an appointment with the Director of Academic Success and Accessibility as soon as possible.
- It is the student’s responsibility to self-disclose a disability and need for academic accommodations. Students who are unable to register in person can request accommodations by contacting the Director before classes begin. The meeting with the Director can be conducted in person, by phone, or virtually. Please contact the Director in any of these ways to schedule a 1 hour appointment for an intake interview:
Contact Information:
Email: [email protected]
Call (406) 771-4311 (voice, TDD, or Sorenson Video Relay: 406-205-1079)
Stop by the Receptionist’s Desk in the back of the Weaver Library to schedule an appointment - When coming to the scheduled appointment. Please submit supporting documentation from a qualified professional. The documentation must show the functional limitations that impact the individual in the academic setting and support the request for specific accommodations.
- During the initial intake appointment, the student will be interviewed by the Director of Academic Success and Accessibility. Students will need to describe how the disability affects him/her in and out of the academic setting, and the student will be asked about the functional limitations that impact the student. After reviewing the documentation, the Director and the student will discuss and determine appropriate accommodations. Remember, all accommodation requests must come through the office of Academic Success and Accessibility.
- Students are responsible for making arrangements for accommodations as needed (for distance students and instructors, this may be done electronically). Students are advised to schedule a time to meet with instructors during their office hours. Instructors should review the accommodation request forms with the student and discuss arrangements. If the instructor cannot provide the requested accommodation, alternate arrangements may be discussed with the instructor, student and the Director. Although students are required to disclose the existence of a disability to their instructors in order to receive accommodations, they are not required to provide them with a diagnosis or any other details; students are encouraged to develop an open dialogue with instructors, but it is ultimately the student’s decision to disclose information; instructors are required to maintain the confidentiality of disability information except to the extent necessary to implement the accommodations. Students who are experiencing unresolved problems receiving appropriate accommodations should contact the Director of Academic Success and Accessibility.
- For students needing extended time for Biology Lab exams, arrangements will be made for proctoring exams at a specific set time designated by the Biology Department. Biology Lab exam times will be announced at the beginning of each semester.
- Each semester, students must schedule an appointment with the Director of Academic Success and Accessibility in order to continue services and address any unique circumstances for the upcoming semester.
Eligibility and Documentation Guidelines
Eligibility
The definition of a disability is a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one of more major life activities. These include, but are not limited to, caring for oneself, performing manual tasks, seeing, hearing, eating, sleeping, walking, standing, lifting, bending, speaking, breathing, learning, reading, concentrating, thinking, communicating, and working. Civil rights laws protect students with disabilities from discrimination. The ADA and Section 504 protections also extend to students who have a record of or are regarded as having such an impairment, even if no such impairment currently exists.
Students with disabilities at Great Falls College have a right to reasonable accommodations in order to fully participate in the postsecondary educational experience. Students with disabilities are encouraged to advocate for themselves to the extent possible, and the office of Academic Success and Accessibility provides support and assistance in determining what accommodations are best suited to each individual. Students needing accommodations must apply for services through the office of Academic Success and Accessibility and be determined eligible.
Students with disabilities who may wish to use accommodations during their education are encouraged to register in the early stages of their college planning with the Director. Although students can request services at any time, please remember that services are not retroactive. Students who apply for services will need to meet with the Director to discuss support services and accommodations. This is separate process from the Admissions process. It is the student’s responsibility to initiate the request for services.
Students requesting accommodations must meet with the Director of Academic Success and Accessibility to determine appropriate accommodations. Appropriate documentation of disability will be reviewed by the Director and accommodations will be determined based upon the students’ self-report and appropriate documentation of the disability. Together, the Director and the student will determine reasonable accommodations based upon the impact of the student’s disability. Students needing classroom accommodations will need to get Request for Classroom Accommodation forms from the Director each semester for each instructor.
Documentation
Because modification requests are individualized based upon each student’s disability, it is necessary to establish not only the existence but the functional impact of the condition on the student in an academic setting. While much of this information can often be obtained through a structured interview with the student, documentation from a qualified professional is an essential factor in determining reasonable modification with each student.
Appropriate documentation should substantiate the disability and present evidence to establish the need for modification. Suggested types of documentation include medical records, psycho-educational testing, and school records. In most cases, documentation should come from an impartial, qualified health care provider who is involved with the diagnosis and/or treatment of the student’s condition. The documentation should indicate the student’s most recent diagnosis and should reflect the student’s current level of impairment and functional limitations due to the disability. If the student’s medications or treatment has a functional impact that may affect his or her ability to meet the demands of the postsecondary environment, the documentation should indicate this. Documentation should include recommendations for modifications in the educational setting.
When a student’s condition or its impact changes, he or she must provide the Director with an updated version of the documentation. An individualized education program (IEP) or Section 504 plan, may help identify services that have been effective for you. Because of the differences between postsecondary education and high school education, Disability Services will make final determination of whether appropriate and reasonable modifications are warranted and can be provided to the individual.
Rights & Responsibilities
Student Responsibilities
- Identify yourself to the Director of Academic Success and Accessibility if you are seeking modifications
- Provide documentation from the appropriate professional(s) that verifies the disability, functional limitations, and the need for specific modifications
- Assume responsibility for utilizing modifications and notify the office of Academic Success and Accessibility, faculty, etc. when requesting modifications such as electronic texts and alternative testing
- Assume personal responsibility for requesting assistance from faculty members and supplemental services such as tutors in the Academic Success Center
- Provide for your personal independent living needs or other personal disability-related needs
- Meet the College’s qualifications and maintain institutional standards
Student Rights
- Equal access to college programs and services
- Reasonable and/or auxiliary aids and services
- Confidentiality of all information pertaining to your disability
- Assistance from the office of Academic Success and Accessibility in removing any physical, academic, and attitudinal barriers
Great Falls College Responsibilities
- Evaluate students on the basis of their abilities and not their disabilities
- Respond to requests on a timely basis
- Maintain appropriate confidentiality of records and communication except where permitted or required by law
- Provide or arrange reasonable modifications, academic adjustments, and/or auxiliary aids and services
Great Falls College Rights
- Verify the need for reasonable modifications by requesting current documentation of a disability from the appropriate professional sources(s)
- Deny a request for modifications if the documentation demonstrates that the request is not warranted or if the individual fails to provide appropriate documentation
- Select among effective modifications and/or auxiliary aids and services
- Refuse unreasonable modifications, adjustments, and/or auxiliary aid and service requests that impose a fundamental alteration on a program or activity of the college, create an undue financial burden, or are considered “personal” in nature [i.e., personal aides, personal care attendant, individually prescribed devices (wheelchairs, walkers, canes, etc.), readers for personal use or study, or other devices or services of a personal nature]
Temporary Physical Impairments
Students with temporary disabilities may request reasonable accommodations for a limited amount of time. Students may request special arrangements with each instructor, and if the instructor allows course modifications, the student may request the temporary use of Academic Success and Accessibility resources (e.g. testing room/proctor; assistive technology) as available. Such requests must be accompanied by medical documentation of the temporary condition, and will only be granted as resources are available. In all cases, students registered with the office of Academic Success and Accessibility will receive top priority for use of resources.
Confidentiality
Students with disabilities who apply for assistance through the office of Academic Success and Accessibility on campus are required to provide medical, psychiatric and/or psychological documentation of their disabilities, including diagnoses, assessment tools used and their outcomes, and the potential effect of the disability and any applicable medications on their ability to meet the demands of a postsecondary environment. Students release that information specifically to the Director, and it is kept in a confidential file in the Director’s office.
Because of the sensitive and private nature of much of the documentation material provided and the counseling notes the Director keeps, and because interpretation of the medical, psychiatric and/or psychological records requires a certain level of expertise, it is the policy of the Academic Success and Accessibility office to maintain the student files at the highest level of confidentiality. Access to Academic Success and Accessibility student files is restricted to the Director and other Academic Success and Accessibility personnel as needed. In the event that the Director is absent or unavailable, a substitute will be named and have temporary access to the files.
Requests by faculty, staff, other college employees, students, community agencies, or any other interested persons to have access to the files will be granted only if the request is accompanied by the written permission (Link to Authorization for Release and Exchange of Information form) of the student and will be viewed only in the presence of the Director. The written permission for access may be revoked at any time upon subsequent written request of the student. The Academic Success and Accessibility office is required to provide annually a list of ID numbers of students eligible for services to the Carl Perkins grant director for statistical purposes. For no reason will copies of documentation or other personal information included in the files be supplied to anyone, except where required by law.
Disclosure of disability-related information is strictly left to student discretion. Faculty or other interested persons inquiring about a student’s disability status or registration with this office will be referred back to the student.
Students must disclose the existence (not the nature) of a disability to an instructor when requesting accommodations for that class. Once an accommodation request is made the Director may discuss with the instructor how the disability affects the student in an academic setting, without disclosing the type of disability.
Once a faculty member has received an accommodation request, and therefore becomes aware of a student’s disability, s/he is bound by the same code of confidentiality as the Director: the information may not be shared, verbally or in writing, with anyone else without the written permission of the student.
These policies are in place to protect the rights of the students as well as to create a comfortable and trustworthy environment in which students with disabilities can succeed to their utmost potential.
Student information files will be retained for five years after the student’s last semester at the College. Files of students who return after graduating or being unenrolled for a year or more and do not re-activate their files will be retained for 5 years after the last semester the student was served by the office. After that five year period, student files will be destroyed. The Director will keep an electronic record of files that have been destroyed.
