Students with special needs in graduate assistant Laurie Chancey’s sociology class can’t get to her office in Stubbs Hall.
Chancey recalled having a student who broke his leg earlier this semester. She tried to accommodate the student by meeting at a different location for the student’s makeup exam, but the student declined.
“I was thinking, ‘He could very easily just fall all the way down the stairs because he’s not used to the crutches,'” she said.
The student arrived safely in her office, but Chancey said it seems against the spirit of the University and the social and political sciences housed in Stubbs Hall not to have accommodations for handicapped students.
“It’s slightly ironic,” Chancey said.
Research done by students in English instructor Martha Strohschein’s service-learning course has shown that all of the buildings in the Quad, excluding Middleton Library, do not fully meet equal access requirements for disabled students.
The information suggests the University may be lacking in amenities, said communication disorders sophomore Stephanie Lorio, a member of Strohschein’s class.
According to the Office of Disabilities website, the University is required to accommodate students with disabilities to ensure equal access to University programs.
Under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the University is also required to prohibit discrimination against students with disabilities.
“None of the buildings are basically accessible,” Lorio said. “They don’t have to be because they are historic buildings and have not been renovated.”
Lorio claims the University “just kind of gets by” when it comes to providing special access to buildings in the Quad.
“I’ve always been kind of shocked by it,” Chancey said.
The class is presenting the information it has gathered to Disability Services and the Center for Community Engagement, Learning and Leadership in Prescott Hall on Nov. 18.
The event is open to the public, but space is limited.
The class originally planned to give the presentation in its classroom in Allen Hall but had to move the location when Associate Director of the Office of Disability Services Benjamin Cornwell wouldn’t be in attendance because “his wheelchair couldn’t fit through the elevator” in Allen Hall, said biological sciences sophomore Krishna Patel.
“I would love to see full physical access for everything across the board, but that’s going to take a lot of time and a lot of money and with this being a state facility,” Cornwell said.
Food science sophomore Sarah Henthorn, a student in the class, said the University has not broken the law yet because it has not renovated the buildings.
“The only reason they’d have to update the buildings to standards would be if they majorly renovated them,” Henthorn said.
Chancey said problems with the Quad have even affected fellow graduate students.
“[A graduate student] had a motorcycle accident,” Chancey said. “He broke his leg, and he had to switch offices with one of the professors on the first floor because the first floor is the only floor you can get to on a wheelchair.”
Accessibility on campus for the disabled is an issue of which many are not aware, Strohschein said.
“Increasingly over the years I’ve had students who need and request accommodations through Disability Services,” Strohschein said.
Strohschein’s English 2000 class partnered with the University’s Office of Disability Services during the summer to form her service-learning course.
“It just seemed to me that a nice place to start [with the issue] would be with a class of 20 and have them work with Disability Services,” Strohschein said.
Strohschein and Disability Services saw the class as an opportunity to get information from students concerning student and faculty perceptions regarding students with disabilities.
“We would request interviews with faculty members, and faculty members weren’t forthcoming always … but that reinforced the idea that maybe there’s not always a lot of cooperation [regarding disabilities],” Strohschein said.
 
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Contact Julian Tate at [email protected]