Overview: Complete a full anti-ableism/disability inclusion audit of courses, include disability justice in courses in all departments with specific development of new courses about disability and accessibility where gaps are identified.
Point Person(s): Jan Roberts-Breslin, Heather May, Department Chairs
Updates:
Fall 2021: Department chairs return to access union doc and ideas in the fall departmental retreats.
Commitment 2:
Overview: Hiring and Retention: Hire more disabled professors to teach disability-centered and non-disability centered courses. Support, accommodate, and value disabled professors. Hire both disabled and non-disabled professors who have an understanding of accessibility, access-centered pedagogy, and other ways to support disabled students.
Point Person(s): Michaele Whelan
Updates:
Fall 2021: In the language of its job descriptions, where inclusivity is stressed, and in the professional development support, mentoring, and accommodations it offers to faculty, the College does its best to hire and retain disabled professors. It is important, however, to note that it is not legal to use quotas or require that a person be disabled to hold a certain position, just as it is not legal to require that someone not be disabled.
It is possible:
to ask candidates about their familiarity with making classes and activities accessible for students;
to advertise positions in publications and with associations with a circulation or membership of individuals who identify as disabled or who are interested in issues facing disabled academics.
Making these possibilities manifest is part of the ongoing work of the College to improve current and introduce new best practices on disability accommodations and accessibility issues in the hiring process. These actions include:
Further refine hiring committee training for all members of hiring committees.
Work with SAS and faculty whose areas of expertise is Disability Studies to enhance the database of where to post job advertisements for new faculty positions.
Commitment 3:
Overview:
Absence Policy: Create a college-wide absence policy that serves as a baseline for individual professor policies and defines terms such as “unexcused” and “excused” absences. Demedicalize excused absences and do not require medical documentation. Do not penalize students twice for an absence (a grade should not be lowered on account of an absence while a participation grade is also lowered on account of the same absence). Give professors more leniency in their absence policies in accordance with their approach to access-centered pedagogy.
