Dining Accommodations

Dining Accommodation Guidelines

The information that you provide regarding any need for accommodation(s) will be shared only with those individuals involved in the coordination and facilitation of services and accommodations that are required to make our programs accessible to you.

All students who live in residence halls at Luther College are required to select a dining meal plan for each academic term in residence.

Learn more about Luther’s Dining Services

Please note that exemptions from the meal plan are rare. They are made solely on documented health conditions that require special diets that cannot be accommodated by the college’s dining services provider. If you are requesting a release from the meal plan requirement, you should be aware that dietary restrictions do not always constitute a valid reason for cancelling your meal plan contract.

Lastly, as you will see below, the process for dining accommodation requests are more lengthy than other accommodation request types. Please note that these requests do take longer than other types of accommodation requests. They may take up to 60 days from the initial request to the finished result to be completed.

Dining Accommodations for Medical Reasons

Food allergies may constitute a disability and reasonable accommodations related to the meal plan may be possible. If seeking a dining accommodation for medical reasons, students must submit a request and documentation that supports the requested accommodation to Disability Services.

Guidelines for dining accommodation requests are as follows:

• March 1 for current students for the fall semester
• December 1 for current students for the spring semester
• July 15 for incoming new and first-year students for fall semester

Dining Services provides dietary accommodations to students with medically-indicated special diets that are difficult to self-manage. It is the student’s responsibility to initiate a dietary accommodation request so we can help you. The student is required to follow the steps below and meet with the Dining Dietitian to complete the request.

1. Complete the Dining Accommodation Request Form
2. Meet with a representative from Disability Services about your request
3. Healthcare provider documentation should be submitted to disabilityservices@luther.edu or faxed to 563-387-1411. Submit the form and supporting documentation from a qualified, licensed medical provider to assist in determining how to proceed with your dietary accommodation request
4. Disability Services staff will review the documentation sent from your medical provider
5. Disability Services staff will arrange a meeting for you (the student) to meet with the Campus Dietician, Anne Blocker, or other Dining Services staff. This meeting will be to determine if, and how the meal plan can be accommodated
6. After the student meets with the Dining Services representative, they will send their recommendations for accommodation back to Disability Services who then enacts the recommendations

Dining Accommodations Documentation

The following questions should be answered in the provider documentation:

• What is the problem/diagnosis?
• How was the condition assessed?
• What date(s) was the assessment/treatment provided?
• What is the history? How long has this been going on?
• How long will it continue?
• How does the condition manifest?
• What aggravates the condition?
• What food items need to be avoided for health reasons?
• What makes the condition better?