AWOL Magazine
STUDENTS CONDEMN VIRTUAL ASAC AU community members with disabilities call out university support services’ response to online learning environment Written by Braeden Waddell Art by Ian Vaughan
The web version of the story will be updated with a comment from the university. Kadaline Jackel, a former AU student, said the final straw in her decision to leave the university was when it announced the original plan for the fall semester, which would have been a hybrid between online and inperson learning. The plan only allowed freshmen and sophomores to apply for housing, while upperclassmen were forced to look elsewhere for places to live. Jackel said she was unaware that the university had canceled her application. “I have a disability and I had to apply for housing accommodations,” said Jackel. “To hear that I was being kicked off campus and they canceled my application five days before they made the announcement was unsettling, to say the least.”
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Though the university would later announce a fully online semester, Jacksel said she felt as though the university’s decision not to prioritize students with disabilities and students from lower income households felt wrong.
“I don’t like the way that they treat their students,” said Jackel. “I knew they didn’t really care about us from the get-go, and this is just solidifying that ‘hey, we only want your money, we don’t really care how you get to these classes.” Jackel is not alone. AWOL reporters spoke with students during the pandemic about their experiences with ASAC and the frustration, confusion and humiliation they endured while attempting to work with the accessibility office. Students say ASAC services can harm more than help Students have criticized AU’s history of inaccessibility for students with disabilities, and its sometimes harsh treatment of students who seek accommodations from the Academic Support and Access Center since long before COVID-19. During the pandemic, some students said long-standing issues were made much worse. AU had 24 investigations into its handling of civil rights abuses between 2015 and 2018. Of those cases, 11 involved “denial of benefits,”
