Dining Accommodations

Lafayette College is committed to providing reasonable and appropriate dining accommodations to students with disabilities.  Accessibility Services engages in an interactive process with each student and reviews requests for accommodations on an individualized, case-by-case basis. Our goal is to understand the impact of the disability so that an appropriate plan can be developed.

At Lafayette College, dining is integral to the residential college experience and plays an important role in helping students make connections, form communities, and learn from their food and consumption. The purpose of a dining accommodation is to ensure equal access to dining options and, if necessary, address dining needs that may be difficult to meet through the College’s residential dining program. The process begins with identifying the student’s essential needs, and then determining appropriate accommodation(s) that address those particular needs.

Accessibility Services requires supporting documentation from a qualified licensed professional that identifies how a dining accommodation supports the student’s disability-related needs.  Please be aware that a diagnosis in and of itself does not automatically qualify a student for dining accommodations.

Accommodation requests for the next academic year must be submitted by March 1 (current students) or June 1 (incoming first-year students).   Requests not made within a reasonable time frame may result in the College not being able to provide the requested accommodation. Students may contact Accessibility Services at any time regarding the accommodation request process.


How to make a dining accommodation request:
  1. The student will complete the Accommodation Request Form and submit documentation of their disability that supports the requested dining accommodation(s) to Accessibility Services. Accessibility Services will notify the student via Lafayette email that their information has been received.
  2.  Accessibility Services will review the documentation and gather additional details from the student if necessary. The student may be required to meet with Dining Services as part of the accommodation request process.
    If the documentation and information from Dining Services (when applicable) supports the requested accommodation, Accessibility Services will email a letter to the student via Accommodate that states the approved accommodation(s) and copy Residence Life.If the dining accommodation request is not supported, Accessibility Services will email the student via Accommodate to notify them of the decision.