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Dietary

The ³Ô¹ÏÌìÌà is committed to providing students with nutritious meals that they can enjoy without worrying about food allergies. The ³Ô¹ÏÌìÌà can meet the vast majority of students’ dining needs–including disability-related or religious dietary requirements–through its extensive dining options, and/or through reasonable accommodations.

Dining Services provides an allergy-friendly station located in the Fresh Food Company called the . This station is designed for students who are allergic to one or more of the most common food allergens. Students can also access menu information online on the dining website to review ingredients and nutritional information. 

Students are eligible for reasonable accommodations on the basis of a medically-based disability condition that results in severe food allergies or the need for a strictly maintained special diet that cannot be managed by the allergy-friend stations located at the Fresh Food Company. Depending on the circumstances, this may include conditions such as severe allergies, gastrointestinal conditions, etc.)  Students with severe food allergies and/or medically based dietary requirements, that cannot be addressed by the options provided by Dining Services, and after consulting with a Dining Services Dietician, Students should then submit the appropriate documentation to the Office of Equity and Diversity through Accommodate to request a reasonable dietary accommodation.

Accommodation requests for the following reasons are not considered reasonable accommodations: Work/class/practice schedules, supplemental access to a kitchen, personal dietary preferences (e.g. voluntary vegan/vegetarian/gluten free diet). Students, however, are encouraged to view the Dining Services website to better understand the options available. They may also contact the dietician on the Dining Services website for more information.

Requesting a Disability-Related Dietary Accommodation

  1. To request an accommodation, a student must submit the appropriate documentation through Accommodate.  If this is the first time using Accommodate, please follow the process outlined in the guide to complete the intake form. For returning users, follow the steps outlined in this guide to submit updated documentation.
  2. Students who wish to request a disability-related dietary accommodations must initiate the accommodation process by completing the Request for Disability Related Dietary Accommodation form. Download the form, fill out the student section, save the form and forward it to your licensed healthcare provider.
    1. Students requesting reasonable accommodation due to disability will be asked to provide: 
      1. confirmation that they have read and reviewed the information about the extensive dining options available;
      2. details about their dietary needs, and
      3. what needs they believe are not met by the available options;
  3. Medical documentation must explain:
    1. the nature of the student’s disability and why it necessitates dietary accommodations.
    2. why the extensive dining options offered by the ³Ô¹ÏÌìÌÃ’s dining services does not meet the needs of the student, including how the offerings available at the True Balance Station does not meet the needs of the student, and whether the student has attempted to work with the dietician.
    3. The documentation should be sufficiently detailed to allow OED to make an independent and individualized assessment of the student’s needs.
    4. The medical provider cannot be a family member.
    5. The medical provider can email the completed form to non-academic-accom@scranton.edu or return the form to the student so they can upload it to the Accommodate system. If the medical provider submits the form via email to the non-academic.accom@scranton.edu, the form will be uploaded to  Accommodate by an OED staff member.  If the student receives the form from the medical professional, the student must access Accommodate and upload the form.
    6. The ³Ô¹ÏÌìÌà reserves the right to request additional documentation.
  4. OED will review the information received from the student and the licensed health care provider and decide to grant or deny the accommodation. As part of the interactive process for reviewing disability requests, OED may also, as appropriate refer the student to meet with the Dietician to discuss whether Dining Services can meet the student’s needs. 
  5. If the student’s dietary accommodation request is approved, they will be notified by email of the decision.
  6. While OED take an individualized approach to providing dietary accommodations to student, students are still required to purchase a meal plan and are not exempt from this because of granted accommodations.
    Upon receipt of this information, the student, OED staff, and the Dining Services staff at the ³Ô¹ÏÌìÌà will work collaboratively to address the student’s special dietary needs. The ³Ô¹ÏÌìÌà will engage in an individualized, interactive process with a student, prior to making a determination on the request.

Religious Dietary Accommodation Request Process

  1. Students who wish to request a religious-related dietary accommodation must initiate the accommodation process by completing the Request for Religious Related Dietary Accommodation form and upload it to Accommodate. To request an accommodation, a student must submit the appropriate documentation through Accommodate.  If this is the first time using Accommodate, please follow the process outlined in the guide to complete the intake form. For returning users, follow the steps outlined in this guide to submit updated documentation.
    1. Students requesting religious accommodation due to religious practices are asked to provide:
      1. confirmation that they have read and reviewed the information about the extensive dining options available;
      2. details about their dietary needs including how those needs are related to their religious beliefs, and
      3. what needs they believe cannot be met by the available dining options.
  2. OED will review the information received from the student and decide to grant or deny the accommodation. As part of the interactive process for reviewing requests, OED may also, as appropriate, refer the student to meet with the Dietician to discuss whether Dining Services can meet the student’s needs.  If the student’s dietary accommodation request is approved, they will be notified by email of the decision.
  3. While OED take an individualized approach to providing dietary accommodations to student for religious reasons, students are still required to purchase a meal plan and are not exempt from this requirement because of granted accommodations.
  4. Upon receipt of this information, the student, OED staff, and the Dining Services staff at the ³Ô¹ÏÌìÌà will work collaboratively to address the student’s special dietary needs.

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