Access Denied at University
of Houston
Student with Disability
Sues Over Professor’s Right to Refuse
Accommodation
by Scott Jaschik
Disputes over accommodations
for students with disabilities have become commonplace. Institutions,
students and lawyers fight over whether students are in fact eligible,
what changes they are entitled to and plenty more.
But a lawsuit filed recently against the University of Houston involves
a student with an undisputed disability who says he was turned down
by a professor, without explanation, for his requests for accommodations.
Not only is the suit challenging the treatment of the student, but
the litigation is demanding that the university abandon a policy
in which professors have wide leeway to decide whether to comply
with requests from students with disabilities.
“This policy allows professors complete discretion, and that’s
illegal,” said Ernest Saadiq Morris, a lawyer for the Texas
Civil Rights Project who is handling the case. It’s as if,
Morris said, a public university announced that it was going to let
individual professors decide whether to follow laws that bar discrimination
on the basis of race or gender.
“They are trying to
delegate the undelegatable,” said
Morris. “This case shows a resistance at some universities
to viewing discrimination against people with disabilities as what
we have accepted as unfair or illegal practice.” Officials
from the university said that they could not comment directly on
litigation, but confirmed that the policies cited in the lawsuit
remain in effect. Dona G. Hamilton, general counsel for the university,
said, “The
welfare of our students is a primary concern at the University of
Houston. We take such complaints very seriously, and we are committed
to resolving any problems that we may find.”
The plaintiff in the
case is Gary Bradford, who was starting his senior year at Houston
in the fall of 2005, when the disputed actions took place. As a
result of a genetic impairment, Bradford was born without arms
and his hands are attached at his shoulders. He also has rickets,
seizures and immune deficiencies and uses a wheelchair for mobility.
When he enrolled at Houston, he registered with the university’s
Center for Students With Disabilities, which both verified his
disability and approved a set of recommendations to help him succeed
academically. Those recommendations included obtaining notes from
classmates and instructors.
With professors generally
cooperating, Bradford was proceeding until he enrolled in a required
social sciences writing course last fall. According to the lawsuit,
the instructor and teaching assistants turned down—without explanation—Bradford’s requests
for accommodations such as providing him with notes of class lectures
and discussions and copies of slides used in class sessions. What
is striking, according to Bradford’s lawyer, is that the instructors
apparently had the right under the university’s policy to do
so (even if that is against the law).
The Americans With Disabilities
Act (ADA) requires colleges to make “reasonable
accommodations” to students with disabilities, provided that
the students present evidence of the disability and that the accommodations
requested do not distort the nature of the academic work. The University
of Houston’s policies on students with disabilities have much
in common with other institutions’ policies. But they suggest
in several places that faculty members get to decide whether to make
any accommodations. There are references to faculty members being “encouraged” to
make reasonable changes and language such as “if the faculty
member agrees to provide academic accommodations.” This language,
the lawsuit charges, gives professors the right to ignore the law,
as the suit says happened in Bradford’s case.
Richard Allegra, associate executive director of the Association
on Higher Education and Disability, said that he did not know the
details of the Houston case, but that he was surprised that colleges
would have policies letting any one player effectively veto accommodations
for a student with a disability.
Developing a plan for
such a student, Allegra said, is a question of finding “balance” between academic goals, the desires
of students and faculty members, and the nature of student abilities.
Faculty members need to be “a part of the process and a part
of the team,” he said. But there needs to be “a total
team,” in which someone—typically a dean or director—makes
sure that the law is being followed.
One of the issues in the Houston
case is the claim by Bradford that he was never given explanations
for why his requests were being turned down. Allegra said that good
policies always require faculty members who object to a request to
explain why. Only when explanations are offered, he said, can others
determine if the reasons were justified or offer compromises that
might deal with legitimate concerns.
The Houston suit comes
at what may be a time of increased scrutiny of colleges’ compliance
with the ADA. The University of Chicago and the U.S. Justice Department
this month announced an agreement under which the university will
make extensive improvements in its facilities to bring them in
compliance with ADA. (The university maintains that it is not out
of compliance, but agreed to the changes following a review by
federal officials.) The Justice Department is currently doing a
series of other reviews of colleges and their facilities.
Although the Bradford
suit focuses on academic accommodations, it also includes a section
about facilities. According to the suit, Bradford had to take classes
in a building in which the only door that was accessible for people
in wheelchairs was generally locked during class hours. After complaints
were filed, another accessible door was added, but—according to Brad-ford’s lawyer—its
automatic features did not work properly so Bradford could go through
it only by waiting for another student to come along and open it.
When Bradford did not
receive the help he requested in the required class, he dropped
out of the University of Houston. Morris, his lawyer, said that
Bradford’s top goal if he wins the suit is to return
to the university to finish his degree. ![]()
Reprinted from the online
journal Inside Higher Ed, www.insidehighered.com/news/2006
