Rule R6-100E: Content Accommodations for a Student’s Sincerely Held Belief

1. Student Responsibility for Satisfying Academic Objectives
2. Student Request for a Content Accommodation
3. Instructor Response to a Content Accommodation Request
4. Appeal or Denial of Content Accommodation

‌Purpose and Scope‌

1. Purpose.

   The values held most strongly by the University of Utah community are those of academic freedom and integrity as they are expressed collectively by the colleges and departments as well as individually through research and teaching and as they exist within the wider context of advanced study as commonly understood by all universities. The community also respects every member of the community, without which there can be no collegiality among faculty and students. In addition, the university community values individual rights and freedoms, including the right of each community member to adhere to individual systems of conscience, religion, and ethics. Finally, the university recognizes that with all rights come responsibilities. The university works to uphold its collective values by fostering free speech, broadening fields of inquiry, and encouraging generation of new knowledge that challenges, shapes, and enriches our collective and individual understandings.

2. Scope.

   This rule addresses Content Accommodations due to a student’s sincerely held belief. This rule does not address Schedule Accommodations, which are addressed in Rule R6-100B.

‌Definitions‌

The definitions provided in Policy 6-100 apply for this rule. In addition the following term applies for this rule.

1. “Arbitrary and Capricious” means without a principled basis or in a manner that substantially deviates from applicable policies.

2. “Content Accommodation” means a modification of otherwise generally applicable reading, writing, viewing, listening, or performing requirements due to a student’s sincerely held belief.

3. “Scheduling Accommodation” means an accommodation for an absence due to a student’s sincerely held belief described in Rule R6-100B and is outside of the scope of this rule.

‌Rule‌

1. ‌Student Responsibility for Satisfying Academic Objectives‌

   1. Consistent with principles of academic freedom, the faculty, individually and collectively, has the responsibility for determining the content of the curriculum.

   2. Regardless of any accommodation that may be granted, students are responsible for satisfying all academic objectives, requirements and prerequisites as defined by the Instructor and by the university. Because the burdens and appropriate criteria are different for Scheduling Accommodations and Content Accommodations, granting of one type of accommodation has no bearing on the granting of the other type.

   3. Students are expected to take Courses that will challenge them intellectually and personally. Students must understand and be able to articulate the ideas and theories that are important to the discourse within and among academic disciplines. Personal disagreement with these ideas and theories or their implications is not sufficient grounds for requesting a Content Accommodation. Content Accommodations requested on such grounds will not be granted. The university recognizes that students' sincerely held beliefs may make it difficult for students to fulfill some requirements of some Courses or majors. The university assumes no obligation to ensure that all students are able to complete any major.

2. ‌Student Request for a Content Accommodation‌

   1. It is the student's obligation to determine, before the last day to drop Courses without penalty, when Course requirements conflict with the student's sincerely held beliefs. If there is such a conflict, the student should consider dropping the class. A student who finds this solution impracticable may request a Content Accommodation from the Instructor. Though the university provides, through this rule, a process by which a student may make such a request, the rule does not oblige the Instructor to grant the request, except in those cases when a denial would be arbitrary and capricious or illegal. This request must be made to the Instructor in writing, and the student must deliver a copy of the request to the office of the department chair or, in the case of a single-department college, to the office of the dean of the college. The student's request must articulate the burden the requirement would place on the student's sincerely held beliefs.

3. ‌Instructor Response to a Content Accommodation Request‌

   1. The Instructor must respond to any Content Accommodation request within two school days of receiving it. The response must be made in writing and a copy must be delivered to the office of the department chair or, in the case of a single-department college, to the office of the dean of the college. In the event that the class does not meet on the day by which the Instructor must respond, the student must make arrangements to receive the response in a timely manner. Instructors are not required to grant Content Accommodations, as long as the subject Course requirement has a reasonable relationship to a legitimate pedagogical goal, but they may do so, only if a reasonable alternative means of satisfying the curricular requirement is available and only if that alternative is fully appropriate for meeting the academic objectives of the Course, after considering the following:

      1. the difficulty of administering a Content Accommodation;

      2. the burden on the student's sincerely held belief as articulated in the student’s written request; and

      3. the importance of the particular requirement to the Course.

   2. In considering whether or not to make a Content Accommodation, the Instructor may evaluate the sincerity but not the validity of the student's sincerely held belief. If an Instructor of a Course Section makes a Content Accommodation for a student, the Instructor must similarly consider requests made during the same semester for the same Course for other students’ requests for Content Accommodations.

   3. Requests will be individually evaluated in relation to the above considerations; the granting of one such request will not guarantee that all requests will be granted. Because the criteria and requirements discussed above will apply differently to each Instructor and to each Course, Content Accommodations granted by an Instructor in one Course will not affect decisions by the same Instructor in other Courses or by other Instructors in the same or other Courses.

4. ‌Appeal of Denial of Content Accommodation‌

   1. If an Instructor does not grant a Content Accommodation request, the student may appeal that denial in writing to the dean of the college that offers the Course. The dean of the college (or designee) will, in consultation with the Instructor and the department chair (or designee), act within two school days. The dean of the college (or designee) will uphold the denial unless the dean of the college finds that the denial was arbitrary and capricious or illegal. In the case of single- department colleges, the decision will rest with the dean alone. The dean's determination shall be final as it pertains to the specific accommodation request. Instructor challenges to the appropriateness of this decision should follow established channels. The student may but is not required to participate in these further reviews.

   2. If the Instructor disagrees with the dean of the college’s decision that the Instructor's denial of the student's request was arbitrary and capricious or illegal, the Instructor may not be compelled against the Instructor's professional judgment to administer the requested Content Accommodation for the student. If the Instructor declines to administer the Content Accommodation, it will be the responsibility of the dean in consultation with the department chair to design and administer the alternative academic requirement for the student in order to satisfy the student's Content Accommodation request. The dean of the college (or dean's appropriate designee) will determine the student's grade on that specific alternative academic requirement and will report that grade to the Course Section Instructor, who will incorporate that grade for the alternative academic requirement into the total grade for the Course Section. The final grade in the Course Section will be determined by the Instructor and will be calculated in the same way as the final grade is determined for all other students in the Course Section.

   3. If a student determines, after the last day to drop Courses without penalty, that Course requirements may conflict with the student's sincerely held beliefs, and the Instructor has denied the student's written Content Accommodation request, the student may seek permission in writing from the dean of the college to withdraw and to receive a refund of tuition for that class. In making this request the student must demonstrate the following:

      1. that the student is in good standing in the Course Section as defined by the department;

      2. that the student could not have made this determination prior to the last day to drop Courses without penalty; and

      3. that the student acknowledges that receiving a refund of tuition for that class may cause adjustments to financial aid eligibility or forms of financial aid received.

   4. The dean of the college’s determination shall be final.

   5. If the Instructor of the Course Section is the dean of the college, the student may appeal the Instructor’s decision to the cognizant executive vice president. In this case, the cognizant executive vice president or designee fulfills the dean’s appeal responsibilities described in this rule.

   6. Decisions on accommodation requests may not be considered adversely to an Instructor, including in Policy 6-316, Policy 6-303 and 6-310, Policy 6-321; Retention, Promotion and Tenure; or other proceedings as long as those decisions are made in good faith. Instructors may not take adverse action against students who make Content Accommodation requests. The dean or department chair may not take any adverse action against an Instructor based on the Instructor's decision to make or not make a content accommodation for a student.

   7. Instructors who believe that Course materials may conflict with students' sincerely held beliefs may include a statement in the syllabus for the Course Section that advises students that some of the writings, lectures, films or presentations, or other requirements in the Course include materials that may present such conflicts. However, this rule recognizes that Instructors will not always be able to predict in advance which, if any, materials may conflict with the sincerely held beliefs of a given student or group of students.

      ---

      Sections IV- VII are for user information and are not subject to the approval of the Academic Senate or the Board of Trustees. The Institutional Policy Committee, the Policy Owner, or the Policy Officer may update these sections at any time.

‌Policies/ Rules, Procedures, Guidelines, Forms and other Related Resources‌

1. Policies/ Rules.

   1. Policy 6-100: Instruction and Evaluation

2. Procedures, Guidelines, and Forms. [ reserved ]

3. Other Related Resources. [ reserved ]

‌References‌

1. Policy 6-303: Reviews of Tenure-Line Faculty Members (RPT Criteria, Standards, & Procedures)

2. Policy 6-310: Reviews of Career-line, Adjunct, and Visiting Faculty Members, and Other Instructional Personnel (Standards and Procedures)

3. Policy 6-316: Code of Faculty Rights and Responsibilities

4. Policy 6-321: Required Reviews for Tenured Faculty

‌Contacts‌

The designated contact officials for this regulation are:

1. Policy Owner(s) (primary contact person for questions and advice): Vice Provost for Student Success

2. Policy Officer(s): Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Executive Vice President for Health Sciences

   See Rule 1-001 for information about the roles and authority of policy owners and policy officers.

‌History‌

Revision History.

1. Current version. Revision 0.

   1. Approved by the Academic Senate on April 14, 2026, with effective date of August 1, 2026.

   2. Legislative History

   3. Editorial Revisions

2. Previous versions.

3. Renumbering

   1. Renumbered from Policy 6-100 Section III. Q.