EWU acknowledges the diverse faith backgrounds of our students and employees.
Students and employees may request a religious accommodation for situations where academic program, work tasks, or other required tasks may not align with religious practices. This is outlined in EWU Policy 403-01. EWU engages in an interactive process to determine which accommodations it can provide. Requests may be denied if they constitute an undue hardship or a fundamental alteration of EWU’s educational programs or activities.
Step-By-Step Process
- Student requests religious accommodation through the Religious Accommodation Request Form
The form will have you identify the course, instructor, and the type of accommodation you are requesting.
- The SASS Director (or designee) will review your request and respond back to you by EWU email. There may be a need for clarification of specific details prior to proceeding to step 3.
SASS staff may not always be familiar with the individual course requirements or may need to collect more information to understand the scope of the accommodation request.
- The SASS Director will follow up with the listed instructor to review the request, gather a full list of potential course requirements relevant to the requested accommodation, and discuss impact of implementing the requested accommodation.
This conversation with the instructor will include a review of possible fundamental alterations to the educational experience and/or alternatives to the requested accommodation that may still meet the need. Following this, SASS may need to return to step 2 for further clarification with the student.
- The SASS Director will send a formal response to the student and faculty. This will include a review of the requested accommodation, potential course alterations (if any), and a formal decision based on the provided information.
The formal decision may include a list of potential options available to meet the requested accommodation for the student to choose. If the initial request can be provided directly, then that will be provided as the option. If the request causes a fundamental alteration to the educational experience and no alternatives can be determined, then the request may be denied.
After a Religious Accommodation Request has been approved, the student will need to contact the related faculty member(s) to review how the accommodation will be implemented and any possible adjustments. Accommodations may include, but are not limited to, alternative due dates for assignments, specific locations of work/practicum experiences, or an alternative practice to demonstrate required knowledge mastery.
