By Victoria Keraj
“CUNY Accommodate”, which launched on Jan. 2 for intended use in the spring 2025 semester, is a new platform with the purpose of managing student disability accommodations.
An announcement for the application from Sept. 4 mentions that CUNY Accommodate aligns with the goal to, “actively recruit and retain new cohorts of diverse students at every level of instruction and remove operational and societal barriers for entry and retention,” from CUNY’s strategic roadmap.
This roadmap includes a series of goals that CUNY set following the COVID-19 pandemic, and aims to, “create a strategic plan for CUNY that expands the frontiers of knowledge, accelerates our role as the nation’s greatest educational vehicle for equity and upward mobility, and amplifies the well-being of the citizens of the City and State of New York” as per their website.
The announcement also states, “The introduction of a centralized disability management system marks another step towards removing barriers and enhancing the experience for students with disabilities, bringing together faculty, DSO staff and students to ensure that all students can succeed.”
Prior to the new system, disability accommodations required students to provide detailed documentation regarding their needs. These documents were then reviewed by each individual campus’ disability office. The new system is a centralized platform, remaining the same across CUNY.
The program is also described in the user-guide as, “an accessible mobile-friendly platform.” Detailed in the user-guide is how students may use CUNY Accommodate to upload documentation and view their accommodations. More instruction is featured in the guide as well as how to log on and create an account.
“We encourage you to familiarize yourself with CUNY Accommodate by exploring our self-directed instructional videos and comprehensive guides that walk you through what you need to know to use the system (Access SharePoint then enter your CUNYfirst username and password to get started),” Alicia M. Alvero, Interim Executive Vice Chancellor and University Provost, said in a statement. “You can access these resources and the CUNY Accommodate system using the links below.”
The application will be used by BC’s Center of Student Disability Services (CSDS) to “streamline […] the management of requests for accommodations and services that DSOs provide,” as is stated in the user-guide. For example, the app will allow students to schedule appointments and submit semester requests which will be reviewed by the CSDS.
It remains to be seen how this new system will impact students in the upcoming semester. “This marks another step toward removing barriers and enhancing the experience for students with disabilities,” CUNY states, “bringing together faculty, DSO staff and students to ensure that all students have the opportunity to succeed.”
Students can access CUNY Accommodate at: https://cuny-accommodate.symplicity.com/