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 “Inquiries such as this are not at all uncommon in my experience. Obviously, a response is required, and it must be one within university guidelines. Referral to the appropriate admitting authority, which at my institution would depend on the circumstances of departure, is appropriate. I would also think that some sort of encouragement about pursuing further education as a means to happiness and well being would be appropriate. This should convey caring, which is probably important to the person described.What is most interesting to me is the assumed (by previous commentators) nature of the staff discussion. The case statement does not say anything about unprofessional behavior. It merely says they were discussing the letter. Perhaps they were trying to decide on a proper course of action. Why assume the worst?” – Ron Fannin, University of Missouri-Rolla, May 30 “I agree that there are two issues in this case. One is the right of the former student to equal access to higher education and the other is the behavior of the staff.Despite the adviser's memories of this person, we must allow university procedures to occur. I would write a neutral letter to the student to explain what the procedures are for readmission and include a readmission form. In our case, the registrar's office processes any requests. We have to carefully protect the rights of students, and one way of doing so is to assure that procedures are followed. The staff assistants need to be trained and sensitized to issues of disabilities. I'm not sure what the correct way to approach them might be. If I were the supervisor, I would be sure to train them on issues relating to disabilities and student rights. I also would remind them of issues of confidentiality. If I weren't the supervisor, I would approach the supervisor and discuss the incident, hoping that he or she would talk with the staff.” – Joyce Buck, Penn State, May 8 “I would contact the student and talk to her about her current situation, especially regarding her renewed interest in education. My assumption would be that her last memory of at least reasonable contentment and personal stability was when she was in school; my concern would be that she is seeking happiness in a memory, rather than moving forward. I cannot know what information our conversation would turn up; I can, however, hypothesize that my advice to her would be to sign up for a class or two at a local community college and see if pursuing an education seems as fulfilling to her now as it did then before committing to such a move. If her concern is lack of career, I would encourage her to also explore the option of professional training. ”– Jenny M. Witcher, University of Maryland, College Park, May 3 “I've been the recipient of several of these letters and have come up with a response that I'm happy with and seems to work well. My first question to you is how do you know the student is 'troubled' (in the psychiatric sense)? (read on)I do academic advising for new students and administer freshman orientation. About 30% of my job is working with students with disabilities – assessing documentation, planning accommodations, etc. These letters always raise a few red flags for me. And yes, I believe you have to respond. First, be sure you follow college procedures. Any student who wants to re-enroll here gets routed through the admissions office. I send a copy of the letter to them and ask that they respond by sending re-application materials to the person. This follows procedure and establishes with the 'student' that I don't have anything to do with whether or not he/she gets readmitted. He would also have to pay a non-refundable fee of $40, which he won't send unless it's a serious re-application. In my role as a disabilities adviser, I mail a short, professional letter informing him that his request has been forwarded to the admissions office (phone #) and that he should hear from them soon. I would also explain that if he is a student with a disability (just like I would explain to any prospective student), he is entitled to assistance with the application procedure and to contact me if this is the case (phone #). If I hear from the student that this is true, I send another letter with a copy of our guidelines for documentation for a generic disability. Never send a specific guideline (i.e. ADD/ADHD, psychiatric, physical) unless you have a diagnosis from a professional. You don't want to have appeared to do the diagnosing by automatically sending your psychiatric guidelines to this person – what if he really has a traumatic brain injury, Asperger's, any kind of dementia, etc? If you don't handle disabilities in your office, forward a copy of the letter to the right office on your campus and ask them to respond. I also give the student a temporary accommodation without having the documentation in hand, which allows me to help him with the admissions process but does not carry through to accommodations in the classroom. These generally wait until full documentation arrives. And last but not least, document, document, document! I keep a pending file (kept confidential, under lock and key) with all these types of things in it, with complete file notes, copies of letters sent and received, etc. attached. Finally, depending upon how serious I thought the office staff response was (unprofessional at the least) I would sit them down and review professionalism and confidentiality with students' records and remind them that the office is not private space – there's almost always someone just around the corner who heard everything you said. Interesting case study. I'm very interested in what others have to say.” – Ginny DeWitt, Westminster College, May 1 “There are two issues here: One is 'professional' and one is legal.1. It is unprofessional not to respond. Direct the student to the proper channels for re-admission: The Admissions Department. 2. Under the ADA Titles II and III, you cannot exclude a person from admission consideration because of a real or perceived psychiatric disability. If the student is not academically or technically qualified, she won't be re-admitted. If she is re-admitted and violates codes of conduct, then she would be treated as any other student violating those codes. 'My disability made me do it' has been rejected as a defense in federal courts.” – Diana Wagner, Salisbury State University, May 1 The Mentor is published by Penn State's Division of Undergraduate Studies Available online at www.psu.edu/dus/mentor/ Privacy and Legal Statements | Copyright | © The Pennsylvania State University | All rights reserved | |
