Every year, a select few students begin their housing process months earlier than the rest by submitting disability and religious housing accommodation requests. The Herald spoke with several students about their own experiences and challenges with the accommodations process.
Jordan Heinrich ’26 was diagnosed with cerebral palsy when she was two years old. For her, housing accommodations are not a request, but more of a necessity.
“If (the Office of Residential Life doesn’t) give me what I need, I genuinely can’t live there,” Heinrich said.
For students who request accommodations, ResLife will assign housing based on their application and any provided documentation, according to the office’s website. Students’ whose requests are approved will be notified of their placement before general housing selection begins. If students are denied or believe their assigned housing is not suitable, they can submit an appeal or reject their placement and participate in the general housing selection.
The accommodation request process is different for disability and religious requests.
All students’ requests for disability housing are reviewed by Student Accessibility Services, which then determines the necessary accommodations for each student. Once a request is approved, SAS shares its decisions with ResLife, which then assigns specific housing based on the request, according to Brenda Ice, assistant vice president for residential and community living.
While religious requests do not require additional forms of documentation, students applying for SAS accommodations must submit medical records supporting their request, Heinrich explained.
Heinrich said she has had a positive experience with receiving necessary housing. But Maximilian Bean-Tierney ’28, who has a medical history of hunger-triggered migraines, had the opposite experience.
In an email to The Herald, Bean-Tierney wrote that although he submitted medical documentation outlining his need for a personal kitchen, SAS denied the request and explained that he could use a communal kitchen instead.
Bean-Tierney noted that he has made do in his current dorm this year without accommodations — but only because he has been able to use his friends’ meal swipes.
“I often run out of my own given how frequently I need to eat,” he added, expressing concerns with having to depend on others for meal support.
ResLife’s staff also works with the Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life to evaluate religious accommodation requests for students seeking to “live on-campus in an environment that supports their religious beliefs, observances and practices,” Ice wrote in an email to The Herald.
The number of religious requests has increased in the past several years, Ice noted. But religious accommodations may not be approved if ResLife determines “that the request can be met in other facets of campus living and by participating in the General Selection process,” she added.
Heinrich said they believe the increase in requests may have made it more difficult for students to receive necessary accommodations.
“People love to take advantage of accommodations,” Heinrich said.
Shoshana Hoffman Kleiner ’28 expressed frustration at the fact that some students may attempt to receive better housing by applying for accommodations, even though they may not need them.
Hoffman Kleiner, who is gluten-free and follows a kosher diet, has applied for both disability and religious accommodations. While her initial SAS request was approved for a personal kitchen to more easily prepare gluten-free meals, her religious request was denied and she was placed with a group of random roommates.
Hoffman Kleiner explained that keeping a kosher kitchen requires all those who use it to maintain a kosher diet, which would likely not have been the case if she had accepted her initial assignment.
After the request was denied, Hoffman Kleiner made an ultimately successful appeal to ResLife. She was given a new housing assignment with roommates who also maintain a kosher diet.
“I honed down on what I specifically needed,” she explained. “Then I think it was easier for (ResLife) to realize that I was legit and accommodate that.”
Hoffman Kleiner added that she knows a large number of other Orthodox Jewish students whose religious accommodations requests were denied this year.
Molly Ibrahim ’27, a Coptic Orthodox Christian, also applied for religious accommodations this year. She specifically requested a single for solitude during hourly prayers and a kitchen to make fasting and maintaining a vegan diet easier, but this request was initially denied.
“Being Coptic is a huge part of my culture and being able to observe my religious practices accordingly is an integral part of my identity,” she said.
Like Hoffman Kleiner, Ibrahim appealed the request, specifically emphasizing her need for a single and rescinding the request for a kitchen. Though eventually she received a single, she said it was “very inconvenient and disappointing” to not have a kitchen.
When Hoffman Kleiner’s request was denied, she noted that she received helpful assistance from ResLife by attending their office hours.
“They really do seem to be trying their best, and it’s a really tough situation to be in,” Hoffman Kleiner said.
