Learning-Disabled Student Sues Princeton Over Disability Accommodations

Princeton freshman Diane Metcalf-Leggette is suing the University for their refusal to accommodate her learning disabilities by granting her extra time to take exams.  The student suffers from several learning disabilities that effect her visual and language processing ability, requiring her to check and re-check her work several times while she’s writing. Metcalf-Leggette was told in a meeting with school officials that

independent study and deadlines are a major part of the school’s instructional program, and the school did not need to offer extra exam time if doing so would harm the “essence” of a Princeton education.

The thing I don’t understand about this is that the plaintiff’s brother, also learning-disabled, received extra time on exams while he was at Princeton (he graduated in 2008). Moreover, “extra time on exams” is a time-honored classic of LD accommodations. I received 100% extra time on college exams as an accommodation for dysgraphia and ADD (I was also able to negotiate extensions for deadlines on papers with my professors, an accommodation without which I simply would never have graduated). Metcalfe-Leggett herself received 100% extra time not only at her private high school, but also when taking the SAT; for her ACT test she received 200% extra time.

As Metcalfe-Leggett’s lawyer points out, the literature is pretty clear that extra time cannot be considered an unfair advantage; when non-disabled students are given extra time, they perform no better than when given time limits.  I can further attest that extra time is also of no help to a learning-disabled student who is not prepared for the exam in question. If you’re not prepared, all the time in the world won’t make you know the material.

So why is Princeton suddenly pulling the rug out from under its LD students? How can extra exam time possibly harm the “essence” of a Princeton education?

Metcalfe-Leggett was unsuccessful in having her case heard before midterms, so she will have to take those exams with only partial accommodations. Her case will be heard a week before finals. I wish her luck.