Rights and Responsibilities

Student Rights and Responsibilities

A qualified student with a disability at GCC has the right to:

• Equal access to courses, programs, services, jobs, activities, and facilities available through GCC.
• Reasonable and appropriate accommodations, academic adjustments, and/or auxiliary aids and services determined on an individual case-by-case basis
• Appropriate confidentiality of all information regarding their disability, except when disclosures are required or permitted by law
• Information available in alternate formats

A student with a disability at GCC has the responsibility to:

• Meet GCC qualifications and maintain essential College standards and requirements for courses, programs, services, and activities
• Abide by the College’s Code of Conduct
• Self-identify to Student Accessibility Services in a timely manner as an individual with a disability and provide documentation that meets the SAS documentation guidelines when seeking any academic adjustment
• Follow SAS guidelines and procedures for obtaining accommodations, academic adjustments, auxiliary aids and services
• Follow GCC policies and procedures as set forth by the College
• Seek information, counsel and assistance as necessary.

GCC Faculty/Staff Rights and Responsibilities

GCC Faculty and Staff have the right to:

• Hold all students to the same essential course requirements and behavior expectations
• Request verification of a student’s eligibility for any requested academic adjustments. Such verification will be in the form of a letter written by SAS and delivered by SAS directly to the faculty member via email. (Note: SAS is the only office designated to review disability documentation and determine eligibility for appropriate academic adjustments)
• Consult with SAS regarding alternative academic adjustments if he/she believes the academic adjustment would result in a fundamental alteration of the course
• Expect the student to initiate academic adjustment requests through SAS

GCC faculty and staff have the responsibility to:

• Identify and establish essential functions, abilities, skills, and knowledge of their courses and evaluate all students on this basis
• Provide academic adjustments only to students who are registered with SAS. It is NOT your responsibility to provide academic adjustments to students who are not registered with SAS
• Use a syllabus statement and class announcement to invite students to disclose their needs to SAS
• Act immediately upon getting a student’s academic adjustment letter by providing the listed academic adjustment(s) or by contacting SAS (if unsure about a request)
• Work to ensure that all audio-visual materials use in class are accessible (e.g., that videos shown are captioned for students with hearing impairments, etc.)
• Treat and protect all disability-related information as confidential

GCC Rights and Responsibilities

GCC has the right to:

• Establish essential functions, skills, knowledge and standards for courses, programs, services, degree requirements, jobs, and activities, and evaluate students on this basis
• Request and receive current documentation that supports requests for accommodations, academic adjustments and/or auxiliary aids and services
• Select among equally effective and appropriate accommodations, adjustments, and/or auxiliary aids and services in consultation with students with disabilities
• Deny a request for accommodations, academic adjustments and/or auxiliary aides and services if, based on the assessment of SAS, an individual fails to provide the required documentation, the documentation does not demonstrate the need for the requested academic adjustment, documentation is outdated in relation to the current educational situation, and/or the requested academic adjustment imposes a fundamental alteration to a program, service or activity

GCC has the responsibility to:

• Practice non-discrimination in accordance with federal and state laws by evaluating current and prospective students without regard to their disability
• Provide, in a timely fashion, information regarding guidelines and procedures to students with disabilities and assure its availability in accessible formats upon request
• Provide reasonable and appropriate accommodations, academic adjustments, and/or auxiliary aids and services for students with disabilities upon a timely request by a student
• Provide courses, programs, services, jobs, activities and facilities that are available and usable in the most integrated and appropriate settings when viewed in their entirety
• Maintain appropriate confidentiality of records and communications, except where disclosure is authorized by the student or required by law