Equity In Accommodations

It is required by law that Institutions must engage all parties to the Title IX grievance process in an equitable fashion. Institutions must provide equal access to counseling services and other resources from the beginning of the process, and must also reasonably accommodate any disclosed disabilities of the parties. If any party involved in the Title IX grievance process makes the Title IX Coordinator aware of their disability, then those officials are obliged to reasonably accommodate the disability during the investigation and adjudication of the incident.

Worcester State is committed to providing equal access to qualified persons with disabilities. Disability accommodations are intended to eliminate or minimize barriers to services, therefore in the context of Title IX, Worcester State will consider requests for disability accommodations to help students report sexual violence and misconduct or respond to claims made against them, participate in the investigation and adjudication process, and determine which supportive measures to implement.

Addressing Accommodations in Title IX Procedures

To incorporate disability accommodations into the Title IX procedures, Worcester State will:

• Provide resources and refer students to Student Accessibility Services.
• Proactively engage in discussions between the Student Accessibility Services office and the Title IX coordinator, upon student consent, to identify and facilitate accommodations. (Potential accommodations may include, but are not limited to, assistive devices, additional time to review documents, more frequent breaks in interviews and hearing, note taker.)
• Work with Student Accessibility services to consider potential auxiliary services that students may need to report an incident or to contact the Title IX office, including communications services and website accessibility.
• Offer assistance in complaint filing to qualified students with a disability.
• Offer assistance to a respondent in the initial communication providing notice of the claim.
• While adhering to Title IX procedure deadlines Worcester State will provide reasonable time extension to the procedural process to allow Student Accessibility Services to evaluate the application. *Requests must be carefully evaluated. Assistance that provides preferential advantage over one party would not be considered a reasonable accommodation.
• Be sure to explain the difference between educational accommodations determined through an interactive intake process with Student Accessibility Services and Title IX supportive measures so not to confuse the two separate accommodations.

Student Accessibility Services