Medical & Mental Health Withdrawals/Emergencies

The College may invoke a medical interim restriction upon a student's medical or psychological hospitalization, emergency, or during a medical evaluation period. Students who are medically restricted for any health reason are temporarily not allowed to participate in any College activities, attend classes, reside in or visit on-campus student housing, and may not be on campus except to attend a meeting or hearing related to their case. This interim period allows time for a student to receive the needed medical and/or psychological care, and for all parties to consider an evaluation of readiness to return to the College. The student must follow the clearance procedures listed below before returning. Students who are medically restricted will be notified in writing and will have the opportunity to address the basis for the decision by contacting Student Health & Wellness.

Students are encouraged to request a voluntary medical withdrawal when they believe their physical or mental health problems are preventing successful engagement in, and completion of, academic coursework; when safety is in question; or when the demands of college life are interfering with the ability to recover from, or adjust to a significant physical or mental health challenge.

Students interested in pursuing a voluntary medical withdrawal may wish to discuss this option with providers at the Health and Wellness Center, or they may independently initiate the process through the Registrar’s office. After the voluntary withdrawal is approved, the person is no longer considered a student and must immediately leave campus and, if applicable, officially check out of on-campus housing.

In rare circumstances, the College may determine that a student must be involuntarily medically withdrawn. Those who are medically withdrawn for any health reason are not allowed to participate in any College activities, attend classes, reside in or visit on-campus student housing, and may not be on campus except to attend a meeting or hearing related to their case. Examples of situations that might result in an involuntary medical withdrawal include the following:

• Professional evaluations following a medical interim suspension do not support a student's readiness to return;

• A student fails to complete the required assessment during a medical interim suspension;

• A known condition has deteriorated (e.g., a student with an eating disorder), rendering the student to be in possible imminent danger and/or incapable of functioning as a student.

In most cases, these situations can be handled through voluntary medical withdrawals; however, if the student is unwilling to pursue a voluntary withdrawal, the College may invoke its right to involuntarily withdraw a student. The College will recommend assessment and/or treatment conditions needed to return to Mount Aloysius College. The student must follow the clearance procedures listed below.

If a student believes that a decision for an involuntary medical withdrawal made by the College is unreasonable or that the procedures used were unfair, the student may appeal. The appeal must be made in writing to the Student Health & Wellness Center. Appeals should clarify what facts the student believes were not considered, or explain what procedures were unreasonable or unfair. Once notified of the involuntary medical withdrawal, the student has three business days to submit their appeal. The College will respond in writing to the student's appeal within three days. The response will clarify whether the Student Health and Wellness Center concludes that all relevant facts were considered and led to fair and reasonable conclusions. The College decision is final.

Any student who has been placed on a medical interim restriction or an involuntary medical withdrawal will need to complete the following clearance procedures before being allowed to return to the College. The College may also require a student who takes a voluntary medical withdrawal to complete the clearance procedures. The following steps are designed to ensure that a health emergency no longer exists and a treatment plan for continuing good health and safety is in place. Note: Depending on the situation, students may complete these procedures on different timelines. Some students may complete these steps within days of the medical interim suspension notice or medical withdrawal while others may wait several months before pursuing a return to the College.

1. The student must be assessed by an appropriate outside professional, whose opinions will be advisory to the College. The professional, who is selected by the student, must be a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist if evaluating mental health concerns, and must be a licensed physician if the evaluation is regarding other medical concerns. Further, all providers must be unrelated to the student and must have specialty/credentials appropriate for the condition of concern (e.g., an eating disorder or substance abuse specialist). To make an accurate assessment, before conducting the evaluation the provider must be given information related to the precipitating events that led to the leave. This typically would involve the student signing a release allowing the College or Student Health & Wellness Center to share information regarding relevant incidents or concerns, and if applicable, recent hospital records. The student will be responsible for any cost incurred by the evaluation. The student shall sign a release permitting two-way communication between the provider and the College representatives, and allowing all relevant information to be provided to the College representatives who are involved in the decision-making and review process.

2. The outside mental health or medical professional must provide an assessment of current functioning of the student and provide written recommendations regarding: a) given the precipitating events, the student's readiness to return to the academic and co-curricular demands of college life; b) the student's readiness to live in the on-campus residential community; c) ongoing treatment or testing needs; d) any conditions or restrictions that the College should impose; and e) the student's readiness to return to competitive sports, if the student is a collegiate athlete. Note: The College physician, in consultation with the Mount Aloysius Director of the Student Health and Wellness Center, will ultimately make the decision regarding athletic involvement but will consider this outside evaluation in making such a determination. NOTE: Documentation of the assessment (conducted within 30 days of application for re-entry) and documentation of required treatment completion must be provided to Health & Wellness Services no later than December 1 for the spring semester and July 1 for the fall semester. Those planning to return to a summer session must provide documentation no later than 30 days before the summer session begins.

3. After the evaluation results and treatment documentation have been provided, the student must meet with a College representative (typically the director of the Student Health and Wellness Center). The evaluation and the student's own perception regarding readiness to return, needs, and plans for treatment will be discussed. Additionally, the representative will consider how the outside evaluator's recommendations fit with the realities of student life at the College and services that are available on campus or in the community.

4. The College will meet and consider the outside evaluator's recommendation and the results of the student's meeting with the College representative to inform its re-entry decision. Students will receive written notification of the College's decision.

Notes:

• There may be occasions in which the College requires, and may pay for, an additional evaluation.

• The College reserves the right to require the student to comply with a treatment plan recommended by the outside and/or Mount Aloysius healthcare/mental health professional as a condition of returning to, or remaining in, the campus community. Review and monitoring of the student's required treatment plan may be assigned to a College designee assigned by the College. Failure to comply with requirements may result in the College issuing an involuntary medical withdrawal.

• If a student was living on-campus prior to the emergency, approval for return to the College usually includes approval to return to housing. However, a student's on-campus housing status may be restricted if the student's behavior poses a health or safety threat to themselves or others.

• If a student was required to complete specific treatment (e.g, eating disorder or substance abuse treatment), the student must provide documentation regarding the completion of this requirement.

For all approved medical withdrawals, the student receives Ws on the academic transcript (or, if the withdrawal occurs during the add/drop period, is completely dropped from classes, without any notation on the transcript of having left for medical reasons). Thus, a medical withdrawal will not affect the student's grade point average. College room and board charges are prorated from the date of checkout for residential students.