The great Princeton University is living in the dark ages

Diane Metclalf-Leggette

By Lauren Christensen, Daily Princetonian

Update – A settlement was reached Thursday evening in the lawsuit Diane Metcalf-Leggette ’13 filed last October against the University. The suit challenged administrators’ refusal to accommodate her learning disabilities by granting her extra time on examinations. On Thursday, the University agreed to grant her initial request for 100 percent extended time.

The Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Education is currently conducting two separate investigations of the University in response to student allegations that the administration has violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, Jim Bradshaw, spokesman for the Department of Education, said in an e-mail.  

Both complaints allege that the University’s Office of Disability Services has failed to properly accommodate students with learning disabilities. One of the complaints, filed by Diane Metcalf-Leggette ’13, asserts that the University retaliated against her. In interviews with The Daily Princetonian, parents of the complainants said these alleged violations are part of a broader University policy that applies excessively strict scrutiny to accommodation requests, prioritizing a commitment to “academic integrity” over compliance with federal law. University officials, though, strongly deny these allegations and maintain that programs for disabled students are in full compliance with the law.

Metcalf-Leggette was involved in a separate months-long legal dispute with the University that was settled on Thursday. After her initial request for 100 percent extended time on examinations was denied last summer, Metcalf-Leggette, who has been diagnosed with dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, filed a lawsuit against the University in October.

Even after being granted 50 percent extend time in January, she said that insufficient accommodation has led to a substantial disadvantage in her coursework across the board. “I’ve run out of time every time,” she told the ‘Prince’ before the case was settled on Thursday. As part of the settlement, the University agreed to grant Metcalf-Leggette 100 percent extended time.

Metcalf-Leggette’s lawyers argued that the treatment of her case is not an isolated incident.

“Denial of 100 percent extended time on tests as a disability accommodation has been a pattern evolving at Princeton since its Office of Disabilities Services … was established in 2006,” the January complaint said, “and results from a bias against extended time.”

John, the father of the second complainant, whose name has been changed to protect his family’s privacy, agreed with the lawyers’ assessment.

“We believe that this is a policy of the University’s that comes from the very top, which is outrageous, and they should be ashamed of themselves,” he said.

University general counsel Peter McDonough denied the allegations.

“One of the things that Princeton does almost to a ridiculous level is put a lot of time, effort and resources to individual people,” he said, adding that he thought the comparatively smaller number of accommodation requests received by the University, in fact, allows for more individualized attention. “Generally, it is my sense that we give much more careful and informed consideration to requests for accommodations than other institutions that have to process so many more in a relatively short period of time,” he explained.

Eve Tominey, director of ODS, declined repeated requests to comment for this article.

For Metcalf-Leggette, though, the extra attention garnered by her complaint may have been a disadvantage. She alleged that the University threatened to expel her unless she terminated legal action.

An e-mail provided by Metcalf-Leggette to the ‘Prince’, which her lawyers received from an outside counsel retained by the University, told her lawyers that “information that you have provided suggests that Diane may not be otherwise qualified to attend Princeton.”

“If the litigation continues, Princeton would pursue that issue, wherever it might lead,” the e-mail said.

“Those allegations are factually false and legally unsustainable,” McDonough said.

John’s daughter, who accepted a place in the Class of 2013, did not matriculate after her requests for extended time were denied by ODS. Her complaint to the Office for Civil Rights alleges that ODS’s timeline for evaluating requests is unfair to incoming freshman.

His daughter received a “likely letter” from the University in October of her senior year in high school, and she decided to enroll at that point, John said. ODS, however, does not accept accommodation requests until June.

“Because of ODS’s timetable, Princeton manipulated her into a corner with no other choices,” he said. “Had Princeton adjudicated this issue back in October of her senior year, there were tons of schools still interested in her,” he added.

John’s daughter now attends Syracuse University, where she was granted extended time accommodations.

While acknowledging that there are some inherent difficulties in ODS’s disability evaluation schedule, both McDonough and University spokeswoman Cass Cliatt ’96 said such issues are inevitable in an office that serves current undergraduates year-round at the same time that it evaluates requests from incoming students.

“Some institutions don’t do this intake process until a student has committed,” Cliatt said. While students can withdraw from the University if they are dissatisfied with ODS’s determination, they typically have to decline offers of admission to other colleges by May 1, before ODS begins processing requests.

Issues with application timing also complicated Metcalf-Leggette’s case. Metcalf-Leggette first filed her accommodations request with ODS in August 2009, roughly two months after the office’s deadline of June 15th.

Cliatt emphasized the difficulty that late submissions pose to ODS’s review process.

“It’s incumbent on the student and their family to meet deadlines,” she said. “It’s a ‘help us help you’ approach … You have to submit the documentation in a timely fashion if you expect a response in a timely fashion.”

Despite these complications, however, both John and Metcalf-Leggette’s parents took issue with the fact that students with accepted learning disabilities were not offered adequate accommodation.

“Diagnosis of a learning disorder is not in dispute; however, the functional limitations to learning are not deficient when compared to most people,” read one letter from ODS to John’s family about his daughter’s case.

Metcalf-Leggette’s mother, Kathy Metcalf, said that from her experience with the University, she believes no student receives more than 50 percent extended time on examinations regardless of diagnosis. When asked if ODS had approved 100 percent extended-time testing for any enrolled student, Cliatt said she did not know.

As the investigation of the complaints continues, the University stressed that no allegations have been proved.

“When the OCR determines that it has jurisdiction over a matter, and has a complaint that’s filed, it opens the allegations for investigation, but that in no way implies that they have made any kind of determination in the matter,” McDonough said.

But John asserted that the University’s evaluation of students with disabilities is nonethless a cause of concern.

“The great Princeton University is living in the dark ages,” John said.