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RELOCATION CAUSES FRUSTRATION PART 1 OF 2
BATT THE
Administrators, students weigh in on Student Services move from Cain Hall to White Creek By Matt Koper @mattkoper
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THE BATTALION | THEBATT.COM
Despite the 2,705 new students who enrolled at A&M in fall 2015, Student Counseling Services had 144 fewer appointments than in fall 2014
Student Services at White Creek
In comparing data available from Student Counseling Services as of Sept 1, 2014 to Dec. 31, 2014 there were 8,527 appointments. When compared to the same timeframe in 2015 — Sept. 1, 2015 to Dec. 12, 2015 — there were 8,383 appointments.
Cain Garage
Memorial Student Center
Source: A&M Transportation Services Route 03 Olivia Adam — THE BATTALION
A&M Transportation Services route 03, Yell Leader, is the only bus route that takes students to White Creek — an approximately 10-minute ride from the Memorial Student Center according to the Transportation Services website. The Yell Leader route also stops at AP Beutel Health Center and the Wehner Building.
“The timing of the new construction project really bothers me — just in that I feel like students were not being put first. You know this a university first and foremost, not a business.” Kaitlyn Kellermeyer, senior, Disability Services user
FILE
The student services complex at White Creek consists of temporary modulars that house offices like Disability Services, Women’s Health Resource Center and Student Counseling Services.
THIS IS PART ONE OF A TWO-PART SERIES: WEDNESDAY WILL HIGHLIGHT STUDENT-LED INITIATIVES TO COMBAT FRUSTRATION
ome students walking along the side of White Creek Apartments are residents of the apartment complex. Others, though, are Aggies who are visually impaired, victims of sexual assault, suffering from anxiety and depression or students struggling with other challenges seeking aid from Student counseling Services. But getting to the student services complex at White Creek is no easy feat for nearly 2,000 A&M students suffering from disabilities such as these. The construction alongside the temporary modulars that house these offices, in addition to incomplete sidewalks and inconvenient public transportation, has made it difficult or unsatisfactory for these students to get the help they need. Offices including Disability Services, Student Counseling Services and the Women’s Health Resource Center, among others were previously located in Cain Hall next to the Memorial Student Center. But when Cain Hall was demolished and replaced with Cain Garage — which opened Monday — some offices previously located in Cain Hall were moved across from White Creek Apartments on West Campus. The move of the services at Cain Hall for the construction of a hotel and conference center alongside a parking garage was initially proposed by former A&M president R. Bowen Loftin, and A&M System Chancellor John Sharp had been considering the project since Oct. of 2014 during a pre-proposal process, according to articles written by The Eagle and The Battalion. Following the Sept. 3, 2015 Board of Regents vote that approved the Cain Hall redevelopment project, the offices were given just over a month — Oct. 1 to Nov. 11 of 2015 — to be completely moved out of Cain Hall. Phillip Ray, vice chancellor of business affairs, said the location of Cain Hall is what drew university officials to replace it with a hotel and conference center and parking garage. “The value comes from the location of the ground — being adjacent to the MSC, being adjacent to Simpson Drill Field, being right there on Wellborn Road, being adjacent to Kyle Field and the parking garages and those type of things,” Ray said. Director of Residence Life Carol Binzer said the University’s decision to relocate the student services office also largely depended on finances. “It’s not an easy answer,” Binzer said. “When you get to the space wars and real estate — everything has different pots of money and so, there’s some of that. It’s probably easier to get money to build a parking garage and a hotel that will support the football revenue or guests coming to see football. It’s not very ‘sexy’ to build new offices for services.” Student senator Kyle Cox, who utilizes a wheelchair due to his Duchenne muscular dystrophy — a disorder that causes muscular weakness — uses Disability Services at White Creek to take tests, turn in paperwork and more. At one point, Cox had to go from his dorm at Hullabaloo Hall to the White Creek offices in his wheelchair because transportation options were unclear. “That was before I had a system and kind of got a feel for how I needed to get over there,” Cox said. “I didn’t plan for this. I mean it just kind of moved in the middle of the semester and I didn’t plan for this, so I didn’t know transportation.” Cox said he’s unhappy with how university administration handled the relocation of Disability Services. “I think the administration just kind of ignored the students and just focused all on money,” Cox said. “That’s just my opinion about it, so — they weren’t thinking what was in the best interest of these students. And now, it really upset a lot of A&M.” Cox isn’t the only student on campus who has claimed difficulty with accessing services necessary for his condition. Senior Kaitlyn Kellermeyer, who is visually impaired, said as a result of the sidewalks and curbs not being finished, she ended up walking in the road by White Creek at West Campus. “The curbs — actually I think all of the curbs — didn’t have any sort of indicator to let you know when you got into the street,” Kellermeyer said. “So I remember kind of trying to figure out how to cross that road and trying to figure out whether I was in the road, and I remember sometimes ending up in the median or walking down the road.” Freshman Rebecca Baumgarten, who has a visual impairment, said getting to White Creek includes walking to the MSC and then riding bus Route 3, the only bus route that goes out to White Creek, with two stops before reaching Disability Services. She also said she has encountered issues crossing the street and once had to have a bus driver walk her across the street the first time she visited the office. “You didn’t have to take a bus to Cain,” WHITE CREEK ON PG. 2
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