Religious Observances

Accommodations for religious observances

Indiana University respects and protects the rights of all students to observe their religious holidays. Instructors must make a reasonable accommodation when a student must miss an exam or other work because of a required religious observance.

The IU Religious Observances policy attempts to strike a reasonable balance between accommodating religious observances of students and meeting academic needs and standards. This policy requires instructors to make a reasonable accommodation when a student must miss an exam or other academic exercise because of a required observance. The policy outlines a procedure that students should follow in requesting an accommodation.

Indiana University's policy on accommodations for religious holy days or holidays for both students and faculty is available at: https://vpfaa.indiana.edu/policies/bl-aca-h10-religious-observances/index.html.

Request for accommodation

The "Request for Accommodation for Religious Observances" form must be submitted by the student to the professor no later than two weeks prior to the anticipated absence. A separate form must be submitted for each absence and for each course. There are two ways to submit this form. You may download the form here,OR you may access the electronic version of the form and fill it out online here.

Guidelines for faculty

When planning courses departmental programs, and other activities for the academic year, it is important to remember the rich mixture of religious and ethic groups that comprise our student population. This list of observances includes some religious holy days, civic holidays and festivals that occur during the academic year, variously observed by certain religious and ethnic communities. This list is not exhaustive, nor does the observance of all the holy days or holidays require absence from class.

Please review the Schedule of Classes for additional information about the academic calendar: https://registrar.indiana.edu/calendars/schedule-of-classes.shtml. Faculty can also refer to the 5-year calendar of religious observances.

Additional important facts

Students are expected to give notice at least two weeks in advance of the anticipated absence. Please include this reminder in your syllabus.
Any student who is unable to attend classes or participate in any examination, study, or work requirement on some particular day(s) because of his/her religious beliefs must be given the opportunity to make up the work which was missed, provided that the make-up work does not create an unreasonable burden upon Indiana University. Upon request and timely notice, students shall be provided reasonable accommodation.
Faculty do not have to consider accommodations for the purpose of allowing students to travel away from Bloomington for religious observance.
No adverse or prejudicial effects should result to students because they have made use of these provisions. The University will not levy fees or charges of any kind when allowing the student to make up missed work.
Attendance policies allowing for specific number of dates to be missed without impact on a student's grade should not count absences for religious observance within that number. Making accommodations requires faculty and students to find suitable accommodation to cover the material from the course and complete all required work, including exams. It is not an appropriate accommodation to permit a student to not complete a portion of material from the course, or to miss an exam, and simply reduct that student's grade.
Students are not required to prove attendance at religious services or events in order to obtain an accommodation for religious observance under IU policy.
Chairs and supervisors of Associate Instructors and all other instructional personnel have a responsibility to ensure compliance with this policy.

To assist instructors and students in their planning, the Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs encourages instructors to do the following in the beginning of each semester:

Announce dates and times for examinations and other major obligations as early as possible.
Ask students to let the instructor know about conflicts as soon as possible and no later than two weeks prior to the absence so that accommodations can be made.
Provide students with information about how to access the electronic request form, or download the accommodation form from the website of the Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs.
If, after discussion, the instructor and student cannot agree on a reasonable accommodation, either or both should seek the advice of the Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs.

Alternative accessible formats of the PDF documents on this page can be obtained by contacting VPFAA at vpfaa@indiana.edu.

Religious Observances

Accommodations for religious observances

Request for accommodation

Guidelines for faculty

Additional important facts

Some key points:

Plan ahead: