By Libby Nelson

Washington

The American Council on Education has voiced concerns that some of the proposed rules to put in place amendments to the Americans with Disabilities Act that Congress passed last year could create unintended problems for universities as they hire faculty members.

Some of the equal-employment provisions of the rules, which were proposed in September by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, go beyond the amendments Congress approved and could have serious consequences for universities, the group's officials say.

In the written comments submitted to the equal-employment commission, the council took issue with several sections of the proposed rules, including one adding more activities that, if limited, could be considered a disability under the law, and that were not included in the language of the amendments adopted by Congress. Those include "reaching" and "interacting with others." The council also took issue with a section of the rules that would prohibit employers from disciplining or firing workers based on symptoms of a disability. The group wrote that some symptoms of a disability that interfere with employment, such as falling asleep on the job or acting offensively toward another employee, could be present in nondisabled workers, too, and shouldn't be protected under the federal disabilities law.

The council was concerned that such provisions would prevent colleges from evaluating whether faculty members with disabilities could perform their jobs on a case-by-case basis, said Ada Meloy, general counsel for the American Council on Education.

"It doesn't mean that you can't have faculty with severe disabilities," she said. "Most universities would be thrilled to have someone like Stephen Hawking on their faculty, and are ready to accommodate faculty, and all of that.

"But we don't want to have some sort of across-the-board per se presumption that could interfere with our ability to emphasize our best judgment and academic freedom in who we hire."