Politics

Making The Halls Of Ivy Fully Accessible

MayorBob.

Posted to Politics on Wed Jul 26, 2006 at 03:00:19 PM EST. RSS.

Most college campuses don't proactively comply with standards of accessibility required by the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA).  Usually a blind eye is turned to the issue except in cases where new facilities are being built or official complaints are lodged.  But, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) pays attention and they have been pressing a number of colleges to review and agree to meet these standards.  The first of these schools, the University of Chicago (UChicago), entered into an out-of-court settlement which may be the first in a series of with schools around the nation.

The agreement is based upon a compliance review of  Title III of the ADA.  It gives the school four years to accomplish a series of improvements to facilities and provide regular progress reports to the DOJ.  Among the tasks required by the agreement are:

  • Changing elements of facilities -- including doors, restrooms, signage and entrances -- that act as barriers for people with disabilities.

  • Ensuring that all buildings and facilities in which programs are offered to the public and students meet accessibility standards.

  • Creating systems for changing facilities or moving events if a person with a disability registers for an event.

  • Reviewing and possibly changing evacuation procedures and transportation services.

  • Ensuring that 3 percent of units (and adjoining bathrooms) in dormitories are accessible to people with disabilities and that a "reasonable number" of housing units have first floor common areas and bathrooms that could be used by visitors with disabilities.
  • Both the DOJ and UChicago officials made it clear that the review was not brought on by any specific complain from any student or member of the school staff.  However, according to Cynthia Magnuson from the DOJ civil rights division institutions are chosen for review when "we're aware of certain problems" and that the review process "is not random."  Magnuson also indicated that as many as ten other schools were currently under review but that UChicago's review was the first one completed.  What will this cost UChicago?  School spokesperson William Harms said:
    "We don't know at this time how much this will cost.  The agreement lays out a roadmap, part of which includes surveying campus buildings for deficiencies. That process is ongoing."
    The DOJ's new interest in compliance with the ADA is something college campuses would do well to pay attention to, according to Sheldon Steinbach from the American Council on Education.  He believes this might be a sign the government is going to "more aggressively enforce ADA."  He indicated that older schools and those in urban areas are the ones "particularly vulnerable" to facing very high costs to pay for needed changes.

    Tags: politics, ADA, education, universities (all tags)

    This story: 10 comments (6 from subqueue)
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    1

    I'm pleasantly surprised

    Thalia.

    Wed Jul 26, 2006 at 08:30:10 PM EST

    4.00 (interesting)

    This is something that, as far as I can tell, isn't being done for the benefit of campaign contributors.  There are no activist disabled groups who are funneling money to the Bush Justice Department.  This may actually be something they're doing just to push people to follow the law!

    Thalia

    2

    ^ 1

    I'm not surprised

    Steve Urkel.

    Wed Jul 26, 2006 at 10:43:09 PM EST

    3.00 (funny)

    Bush & Co. may be making the Ivy Halls more accesable to some groups like the disabled, but one group the Ivy Halls still are not accessable to is the group of detainees in Guantanmo. We still have a long way to go.  

    5

    ^ 2

    Re: I'm not surprised

    Thalia.

    Fri Jul 28, 2006 at 04:49:41 AM EST

    none

    They're still evil.  But occasionally, and probably by sheer accident, they do something decent.

    Thalia

    4

    ^ 1

    Re: I'm pleasantly surprised

    stevetherobot.

    Thu Jul 27, 2006 at 03:47:52 PM EST

    3.00 (brilliant)

    Perhaps the motivation is to make it easier for all the soldiers losing limbs in Iraq to go to college.

    3

    Not too hard

    maml.

    Thu Jul 27, 2006 at 02:45:13 PM EST

    3.00 (interesting)

    For any school that is relatively young or has expanded recently, this isn't too hard a goal to attain.  While my alma mater has many building which would be nearly impossible to make accessable (the original dorm and classroom quad has narrow corridors, small bathrooms, narrow stairs, no elevators...), most of the housing was already built to ADA specs, as where most of the classroom buildings.

    I guess for an older and financially struggling school, meeting ADA specs could be burdensome.

    The coolest thing is getting a dorm room ajacent to an ADA bathroom.  They're usually single occupancy.  Hooray!

    ...Dwayne was hoping that he would pay exactly the right amount of attention to Francine's clitoris.

    6

    A Second Hand Anecdote

    uncarved block.

    Fri Jul 28, 2006 at 09:54:16 AM EST

    3.00 (informative)

    While I'm happy if this does actually lead to improvements, something from my past gives pause. Back when I was in college, c. 1990, a buddy of mine roomed with a disabled man in the dorms. The guy had MS, I think-- in any case, he was in a powered wheelchair back before they were as common as they are now.
       One of the things this disabled gent did was go around to all the state colleges and universities to test accessibility. As my friend Kip put it, he just went around and said, "I can't get there", it was as simple as that. Most of the administators were fairly cooperative, though money was a concern, as with most schools that don't have a pool of wealthy alumni to hit up.
       One school, which will remain nameless, was pretty open about not caring. When the disabled man asked them when the changes were going to be made, one administrator said, "Oh, we don't have to change anything. We just have to have a plan." (Emphasis mine.) In the years since, as I've taken to watching more C-SPAN, this random comment has begun to sound more like a motto than an exception. When I read things like, "That process is ongoing", then, I must admit to being skeptical at the rate these fixes are going to occur.
       Too much emphasis on a small incident, perhaps, but thought I'd throw it in the mix.

    Ex ignorantia ad sapientiam; e luce ad tenebras

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