IS A HOT DOG A SANDWICH?
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The Appalachian Thursday, January 29, 2015
THE APPCLUSIVE RLC
Support for students with disabilities grows with new learning community by Chamian Cruz Intern News Reporter
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ppalachian State University does its best to be inclusive of students with disabilities, but many times these students in particular face social justice issues in the classroom, said Anna Ward, program director of Students with Diverse Abilities. Accommodations for these students are determined by the students’ individual needs, but they may include housing, parking or transportation, food services, technology use, removal of physical barriers for easier access, animals on campus, closed-caption media, interpreter services, testing and more, according to www.ods.appstate.edu. As a new residential learning community at Appalachian State University, AppClusive aims to integrate students with intellectual disabilities through advocacy, service and inclusivity for a better learning and college experience. “I felt like this was a very intentional way to make an inclusive housing experience,” Ward said. “Right now, students live in a residential hall, but I thought this would be a way to have more people involved in that experience where we can actually talk about what inclusive environments mean, specific to students with intellectual disabilities or diverse learning styles.” Intellectual disabilities are also known
as mental retardation and usually develop before the age of 18, which is most commonly found in people with Down syndrome, fetal alcohol syndrome, fragile X chromosome, genetic conditions and birth defects, according to the Centers for Disease Control. They may include difficulty with cognitive processing of higher concepts and also with reading and writing. Diagnosis is typically through IQ tests or identification of someone’s challenges, Ward said. College students with intellectual disabilities typically go through a four or five year high school education and are usually only able to attend college for two years, Ward said. To provide a better learning experience to students with disabilities, members of AppClusive will have the opportunity to work closely with SDAP – a unique and innovative two-year program that provides students with intellectual disabilities support and access to an inclusive college education. “They come [to Appalachian] to hopefully further their education and develop independent learning skills and then just being in an inclusive environment gives students a leg up, because they learn how to better communicate with others,” Ward said. Ward had the idea of starting AppClusive two years ago, but planning and starting it has taken about a year, while Ward also worked
SEE APPCLUSIVE PAGE 4
Alex Gates
The AppClusive residential learning community will be housed in Doughton Residence Hall next year.
Appalachian refuses IHOP meal plan partnership by Chamian Cruz Intern News Reporter
In order to provide students with the best quality food, Food Services at Appalachian State University prides itself on being self-operated since 1925, but this means using AppCards to pay for meals off campus is not a possibility in the near future. Food Services receives no state funding and is 100 percent receiptsupported, Heather Brandon, Food Services specialist at Appalachian, said. “How we pay our meals and how we formulate our budget is based on the meal cards that we sell and also the money that comes from all the cash registers,” said Pam Cline, Food Services director at Appalachian. “From the money that we get from selling meal accounts to students that are living on campus we figure out how much our food is going to cost, how much we’re going to pay for
labor, how much for electricity and steam, and other costs like that.” Approximately 700 students are employed by Food Services and any remaining funds are reinvested into the university through facility improvements such as the renovations to Trivette Hall, Brandon said. “Essentially, we cost the university nothing and instead benefit Appalachian by being the largest employer of students on campus and by continuing to invest in the university’s infrastructure,” Brandon said. Recently, the new IHOP in Boone has attempted to work with Appalachian to offer students the opportunity of paying for meals with their AppCards. “We contacted the school trying to find out if it was an option to use the AppCards at our locations and we were told that’s not something they’re doing at this time with any restaurants,” said Niki Austin, brand manager for Carolina Family
“The school has to allow us to be a part of the program and they are not allowing any restaurants outside of the campus at this time.” Niki Austin Brand Manager for CSRA
Restaurant Association. Other IHOP locations have worked with universities to offer this for students and normally it is through the meal account, Austin said. “The school has to allow us to be a part of the program and they are not allowing any restaurants outside of the campus at this time,” Austin said. “Maybe if students contacted the Food Service Director then they could start changing the program, but as far as I know they are not set up to be able to do that at this time.” Since Food Services relies on the
money they make from selling meal plans, partnering with businesses off campus would take away some of that money and it would result in Food Services not being able to pay their bills, Cline said. “As a business, it would be like having a McDonald’s gift card and Hardee’s saying they would take [it],” Cline said. “It would be our meal plan that is for Appalachian and letting IHOP take it and we would reimburse them for that.” Cline said they try to be good stewards of Appalachian’s student funds and business enterprises since Food Services does not receive state funds. “We take pride in what we do and I think we do a good job, and if there’s something students want that is on an IHOP menu we want to provide that in-house,” Cline said. “We’re open to suggestions if we need to remap some of our menus to mirror more of what they’re doing.”