Accommodations & Supportive Measures
Students can seek accommodations or supportive measures to ensure equitable academic access.
Guidance for Instructors
Customized information for instructors regarding requests for academic accommodations and other supportive measures.
Student Support Resources
Resources are available to provide support and consultation for students.
Accommodations & Supportive Measures
Requests for Accommodations, Adjustments and Flexibility
Students may request flexibility or reasonable accommodation for the circumstances listed below. In most situations, the best place to start is to contact your instructor.
To file a complaint of discrimination based on a protected class, please contact the Office of Equal Opportunity Programs.
Below, students can find information about where to start for such requests and resources available for support and assistance. Instructors may wish to consult the information below to help students connect with resources.
Occasionally, a student’s participation in athletics or other extracurricular activities may conflict with academic requirements (classes, exams, project due dates, field trips, etc.). A good place for a student to start is to talk to their instructor.
The following can be a resource for student-athletes:
- The Faculty Athletic Representative, James King, jeking@ua.edu.
- The Bill Battle Academic Center
Students are expected to attend classes as scheduled. Attendance policies must be provided to each student at the beginning of the semester. These policies must allow for the possibility that students may experience difficulties beyond their control that can result in failure to attend class or failure to complete an assignment on time. Students who may miss class due to observance of religious holidays should refer to the OAA Guidelines for Religious Holidays Observances; those who could miss class because of pregnancy-related issues should refer to the guidelines for Pregnant and Parenting Students; and those who might be absent due to issues related to a disability should refer to the Office of Disability Services.
Hardships such as housing, financial, or food insecurity (basic needs), uncertain documentation and immigration status and other hardship can directly affect a student’s ability to be present in their educational endeavors.
A good place for a student to start is to connect with campus resources (listed below) and to talk to their instructor.
For hardship due to housing or food insecurity and other basic needs insecurity, resources are available at Student Care and Well-Being.
For hardship due to uncertain documentation and immigration status, resources are available at the Capstone International Center.
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is a civil rights statute which prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities. The University of Alabama, in accordance with applicable Federal and State law and University policy, does not discriminate based on physical or mental disability.
Accommodations are adjustments to policies, procedures, and practices that serve to remove institutional barriers and allow students with disabilities to have equal access to participate in their academic programs.
To explore academic accommodations for disability, contact the Office of Disability Services.
To file a complaint of discrimination based on a protected class, please contact the Office of Equal Opportunity Programs.
On occasion, a student may need to request flexibility or adjustments due to illness, serious medical or behavioral health concerns, significant familial distress or grief or bereavement.
In addition to the resources listed below we strongly encourage students to talk to their instructor. Students should never feel pressured to disclose their medical information. The UA Counseling Center and/or the Office of Disability Services can support a student in preparing to talk with their instructors about an illness, hardship or disability.
For medical help, Student Health Center is a fully accredited outpatient center designed to address all aspects of health, with medical, psychiatry, wellness and health education all under one roof. Services for students include primary care, pharmacy and more.
Note: Schedule an appointment by accessing the SHCP Patient Portal on the myBama student page or by calling 205-348-2778. To avoid unnecessary charges on your student account, please ensure your current health insurance card is uploaded on the Portal before a SHCP visit and for vaccination and testing. For questions, please call 205-348-6262
For hardship due to serious medical and mental health concerns, including familial distress and bereavement/grief, resources are available at UA Counseling Center.
For urgent behavioral health support, please call 205-348-3863 Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. through 5 p.m., to speak with a counselor immediately. Outside these hours, please contact UAPD at 205-348-5454 and ask to speak with the on-call counselor.
Additionally, the UA Counseling Center facilitates a Grief Support Group.
Students who are required to participate in weekly or monthly meetings, weekend drills, annual trainings, military schooling, other military training or an official military event as a member of the National Guard, Reserves or as a member of the Inactive Ready Reserve, will be excused from class. For more information, please visit refer to the University’s Guidelines for Students Attending Military Training.
In alignment with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, it is the policy of the University of Alabama to not discriminate against or exclude any person based on pregnancy or related conditions, and to provide reasonable accommodations to students as appropriate.
The Title IX Office can be a resource for you in understanding your rights and options and support you in planning for continuing your education.
Schools must treat pregnancy, childbirth, false pregnancy, termination of pregnancy, and recovery therefrom the same as any other temporary disability with respect to any hospital or medical benefit, service, plan, or policy for students. The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights provides a Discrimination Based on Pregnancy and Related Conditions fact sheet.
The best place for a student to start is to talk to their instructor. The University of Alabama respects the religious diversity of our academic community and recognizes the importance of religious holy days and observances in the lives of our community members. UA strives to be an inclusive community in all aspects of academic and campus life. As such, the Office for Academic Affairs (OAA) encourages faculty members, staff, and students to be cognizant of major religious and cultural observances when planning courses and campus events and to be sensitive to potential conflicts.
The policy for the accommodation of students who miss exams because of their religious commitment is provided on the Office for Academic Affairs website.
Guidelines for academic work:
- Students should notify faculty in writing or via email during the first two weeks of the semester of their intention to be absent from class for religious observance.
- Faculty should provide students who give the required notice of and are absent for observance of a religious holiday reasonable opportunity to complete academic responsibilities in the original or alternative form without penalty, unless doing so would interfere unreasonably with the academic integrity of the course.
- If the student and faculty member cannot agree on a requested accommodation for completion of the academic responsibilities, the student may follow the procedure for academic grievances.
The University of Alabama provides a variety of resources, services and support to the campus community to help prevent and respond to any type of sexual assault or misconduct. These important topics have been highlighted nationally, and we continually educate students, faculty and staff about the resources available to them on our campus.
For needs related to interpersonal violence (IPV), including sexual assault, relationship violence, stalking, and other forms of IPV the Camellia Center is the primary resource for members of our campus community seeking free, confidential, and voluntary advocacy, counseling, and support.
The Camellia Center provides an on-call victim advocate 24 hours a day, including weekends and holidays, for crisis intervention and support. To access the on-call victim advocate after hours or on the weekend call UAPD at (205) 348-5454 and request the Camellia Center on-call advocate.
For sexual assault survivors seeking a medico-forensic exam within 72 hours of an assault, the Tuscaloosa SAFE Center is the local provider and may be reached for 24/7 urgent support via calling their Care Line at (205) 860-SAFE (7233). The SAFE Center provides a free, compassionate, patient-centered environment for sexual assault forensic examinations. It is a community-based, collaborative agency designed to meet the emotional, medical and forensic needs of sexual assault survivors. The Camelia Center advocates can provide support during the examination and help you navigate your options, including learning about reporting and supportive measures.
The Title IX Office helps resolve complaints and can also assist you with supportive measures.
The UAct campaign designates multiple reporting options across campus. These officials include designated harassment resource officers from all colleges and departments, the Title IX Office, the Office of Student Conduct, the Director of Equal Opportunity Programs, the Office of the Dean of Students, University Police, and a 24-hour Hazing and Harassment Hotline, 205-348-HALT (4258).
Accommodations Guidance for Instructors
As an instructor, you may receive requests for flexibility from, or on behalf of, students for a variety of reasons, including scheduling conflicts, accommodations for people with disabilities and supportive measures for students experiencing illness, crisis or hardship. It is important for instructors to know where to direct students for support and felixbility options.
Instructors may wish to consult the Requests for accommodations, adjustments and flexibility to help students connect with resources.
The Inclusive Online Classroom information is available from the UA Teaching Academy and provides guidance for both face-to-face and online courses.
Consider using principles of inclusive teaching and universal design at the outset of your course design. Instructors and students alike benefit from approaching their course design with some room for flexibility.
Help is available for faculty, academic leaders, graduate teaching assistants and postdoctoral scholars. The UA Teaching Academy is a good place to start. The UA Teaching Academy’s experienced teaching specialists provide consultations on a range of teaching and curricular topics.
All instructors are encouraged to provide a link to the Academic Accommodations Hub in their course syllabi.
Student Support Resources
Instructors may start with the responsible office for the circumstance in question or their department leadership.
The Office for Academic Affairs (OAA) encourages faculty members, staff, and students to be cognizant of major religious and cultural observances when planning courses and campus events and to be sensitive to potential conflicts. The policy for the accommodation of students who miss exams because of their religious commitment is provided on the Office for Academic Affairs website.
Annually, OAA officials will circulate to students and faculty, and make available online, a schedule of religious holidays. This may be done through an online resource such as the Interfaith Calendar, which lists commonly observed religious holidays as a reference to aid in planning courses, assignments and events.
Guidelines for academic work (below) can be loaded into the online syllabus template. All faculty members are encouraged to include the following on the syllabus and announce at the beginning of the semester:
- Students should notify faculty in writing or via email during the first two weeks of the semester of their intention to be absent from class for religious observance.
- Faculty should provide students who give the required notice of and are absent for observance of a religious holiday reasonable opportunity to complete academic responsibilities in the original or alternative form without penalty, unless doing so would interfere unreasonably with the academic integrity of the course.
- If the student and faculty member cannot agree on a requested accommodation for completion of the academic responsibilities, the student may follow the procedure for academic grievances.
Occasionally, a student’s participation in athletics or other extracurricular activities may conflict with academic requirements (classes, exams, project due dates, field trips, etc.). A good place for a student to start is to talk to their instructor.
The following can be a resource for student-athletes:
- The Faculty Athletic Representative, James King, jeking@ua.edu.
- The Bill Battle Academic Center
Students are expected to attend classes as scheduled. Attendance policies must be provided to each student at the beginning of the semester.
Questions regarding a request for accommodation can be directed to the responsible office, the Office of Disability Services.
ODS provides information and resources for faculty on this topic. Accommodations Specialists are assigned to every student registered with ODS and are also available.
Faculty guidance for disability-related accommodations can assist instructors with some of the most common issues confronted in handling accommodations.
UA Provost, Dr. Jim Dalton, released a statement related to academic accommodations for disabled students.
Upon being hired at UA, new faculty are required to review and complete “Providing Academic Accommodations to Students with Disabilities” training in the UA Learning Management System Annually, faculty must complete the LMS review course.
Faculty can also access an Instructor Checklist for preparing for an accessible semester.
For employees with disabilities who need accommodations, Human Resources can facilitate that process.
The Center for Instructional Technology provides information about ensuring all web content, audio, and video meet accessibility standards.
Hardships such as housing or food insecurity, uncertain documentation and immigration status, serious medical and mental health concerns, and significant familial distress, directly affect a student’s ability to be present and committed to their educational endeavors.
While instructors are required to respect accommodations requested through the Office of Disability Services and the Title IX Office, well-founded requests may also come from other sources, such as Student Care and Well-Being. Instructors are encouraged to work with the notifying office to determine whether an adjustment, even if not required by law, might still be appropriate to allow. Instructors are encouraged to refer students to Student Care and Well-Being to advise students experiencing significant hardships.
If a student is exhibiting non-emergent behaviors that are of concern in relation to their personal, physical, and/or emotional well-being, you are encouraged to submit a Student of Concern Report. Additional information is available to help you identify the indicators of distress.
Instructors are asked to refrain from general requirements for written excuses from medical personnel for absence due to illness. Many healthy people experience a mild-to-moderate illness and recover without the need to seek medical attention. The Student Health Center does not have the capacity to evaluate all acute illnesses and provide documentation excusing student absences.
Should a student experience repeated absences due to illness, it may be appropriate for the faculty member to ask the student to seek medical advice.
Students who are required to participate in weekly or monthly meetings, weekend drills, annual trainings, military schooling, other military training or an official military event as a member of the National Guard, Reserves or as a member of the Inactive Ready Reserve, will be excused from class. For more information, please visit refer to the University’s Guidelines for Students Attending Military Training.
In alignment with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, it is the policy of the University of Alabama to not discriminate against or exclude any person based on pregnancy or related conditions, and to provide reasonable accommodations to students as appropriate.
Instructors are reminded of their responsibilities for excusing medically necessary absences for pregnancy and related conditions and making reasonable accommodations in the areas of class sessions, exams, tests, project deadlines, field trips, and any other required activities.
Pregnant students may contact the Title IX Office to request assistance with accommodations. The Title IX Office may facilitate communications with the student’s professors or assist with other University resources.
Requests for accommodation may come from a few campus offices, primarily:
Sexual violence and sexual harassment, including relationship violence, stalking and other conduct prohibited by the Title IX & Sexual Misconduct Policy may have a significant negative impact on a student’s ability to participate in educational endeavors. University policy, in alignment with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, requires the campus to provide appropriate supportive measures to survivors of sexual harassment, stalking, sexual assault, dating violence and domestic violence. The UAct website provides information about supportive measures for survivors of sexual violence and sexual harassment.
Requests for supportive measures may come from any of several campus offices, including but not limited to:
As a reminder, it is best practice to direct any questions about the appropriateness, suitability and/or feasibility of a requested supportive measure may be directed to the campus office that has recommended it.