Religious, Ethical or Moral Belief Accommodations

Student Requests:  VCU is committed to providing students, on an individual basis, reasonable accommodation for sincerely held religious beliefs or observances without adverse academic consequences.  Students wishing to request academic accommodations, such as class absence, for a religious observance should provide written notification to the course instructor as soon as possible to allow the student and instructor to engage in an interactive discussion.  Students are responsible for completing any missed academic work as soon as possible and through mutual agreement with the instructor.

Academic Environment:  Faculty members should strive to provide reasonable accommodations so that students do not experience adverse academic consequences when sincerely held religious beliefs or observances conflict with academic requirements.  

A reasonable adjustment in the academic environment is one that enables an individual student to practice or otherwise observe a sincerely held religious, ethical or moral belief without undue hardship to the university.  As such, VCU should make reasonable efforts to provide adjustments for sincerely held religious, ethical or moral beliefs so students do not experience adverse academic consequences when these sincerely held beliefs or observances conflict with the academic requirements.

Student accommodation requests should be evaluated promptly, taking into account the specific facts of the request, and handled in a confidential manner.  Factors that may be considered include the:

• requirements of the course, including format
• duration of the request; and
• availability of alternative accommodations that would eliminate the conflict.

Accommodations should be granted so long as doing so does not constitute an undue hardship or fundamentally alter the course. Accommodations must not result in the student having to complete a more difficult exam, assignment, or requirement than the original.  Faculty should memorialize the granting of the student's request or offer an alternative accommodation, as a good practice of record keeping.

Requests that Fundamentally Alter the Course:  Faculty are not required to provide an accommodation that fundamentally alters their course or constitutes an undue hardship.  What constitutes a fundamental alteration or undue hardship is determined on a case-by-case basis.  Undue hardship occurs when granting a requested accommodation would require more than a minor expense or difficulty for VCU, or would result in the inability of the student to perform an essential function or to fulfill an essential element of the University program or activity.

If a faculty member makes a good faith evaluation of the course/assignment objectives, and does not believe a reasonable academic accommodation is possible due to undue hardship or fundamental alteration, they are welcome to consult with EAS at equity@vcu.edu, before denying the request.  Under certain circumstances, the lack of notice from a student may create an undue hardship but before coming to this conclusion, the circumstances should be reviewed carefully.

No Proof of Sincerely Held Belief:  In general, a student does not need to provide proof of a sincerely held moral, ethical or religious belief. In very limited cases, however, Faculty may request additional details about the student's claim that the belief or practice at issue is religious and sincerely held and conflicts with the academic requirement.  Faculty should consult with EAS if they believe additional details are necessary to evaluate the request.

Failure to Accommodate:  Failure to provide a religious accommodation may constitute a potential violation of the Preventing and Responding to Discrimination Policy.  Please contact EAS if a request was denied.   EAS may be able to provide informal assistance to the parties.  If informal assistance is not available, you can file a complaint here.

Retaliation Prohibited:  Please also note that VCU prohibits retaliation against anyone for practicing their sincerely held religious, ethical or moral beliefs, and that includes students who request adjustments for religious reasons.  Allegations of discrimination based on religion or failure to accommodate are reviewable under our civil rights policies through Equity and Access Services.  

Other resources include:

1. Religious observances - as amended.
2. Preventing and Responding to Discrimination policy which, amongst other civil rights protections, protects individuals from being discriminated against based on religion.
3. Interfaith calendar is found here (scroll down).
4. Academic calendar which contains a reminder to request accommodations.
5. Housing Religious Needs: Contact vcuhousing@vcu.edu before requesting housing. 
6. Dining/Meal Plan Religious Needs: Contact VCUDining@vcu.edu immediately after admission.