THE
BLUE &GRAY
THE UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON STUDENT NEWSPAPER
PRESS
November 14, 2019
VOLUME 93 | ISSUE 11 SERVING THE COMMUNITY SINCE
1922
Closure of accessible lot limits mobility of students with disabilities Victoria Larimer Staff Writer
On Friday, Oct. 1 the Office of Student Affairs sent out an email announcing that the handicap accessible parking lot in the University Center loop would temporarily be closed for the duration of construction on the new
Students with disabilities lose access to UC loop parking due to construction. Iconfinder.com
Panera. This parking lot currently serves as the Americans with Disabilities Act compliant parking lot for the University Center, Custis, Ball and Madison. The Office of Disability Resources was not consulted on this decision. “Parking Management did reach out to us to inform us of the lot closing for three weeks due to the construction. This was after the decision was made,” said Jessica Machado, director of the Office of Disability Resources. According to Dennis Rapkins of Parking Management, spaces have been set aside for disabled students in the annex parking lot next to the University Center to replace the spots lost. Following the announcement, several students with disabilities were concerned about the potential issues in campus accessibility this change might pose. One of these students was junior theatre major, Maddie Neilson. “The closing of the UC loop takes away essential parking for disabled students who need access to the central part of campus,” she said. “The disabled spots in nearby lots are normally taken by disabled faculty or staff and not available for student use by the time classes start or by lunch when students normally access the UC.” Senior English major, April Wobken shared a similar concern about the
decision to close the University Center loop. “Them closing off the loop is the worst idea they could possibly do,” she said. “There are already minimal handicap parking spaces on campus. It would have been better if they did whatever they are doing now during fall break or some other break where students will not be impacted.” Rapkins said that the annex lot where the accessible parking spaces have been relocated is the faculty and staff parking lot located behind Ball Hall to the side of the University Center. While this new parking location is still relatively close to the buildings that the University Center loop served, there have been concerns about its accessibility. “It’s hard to get to the UC from the lot. It’s too far away and is out of compliance for disabled students,” said theatre major Meagan Morrison. When examining the annex lot, the only current accessible path is to exit the lot onto the sidewalk on College Avenue and follow it to the street side entrance of the University Center. From there, these students could through the University Center to access campus walk. Many students felt that this decision was a part of a broader theme of campus
inaccessibility. Junior psychology major Cralida Staton spoke on her personal issues with getting to classes on campus. Staton said, “My physical accessibility has been quite difficult at times. When I used to have a handicap parking pass, it got me closer to an exit or to the end of the parking lot, but it never really helped with getting to classes. I was told to just drive to the parking lot in front of each building for every class, which took more than ten minutes in between each class.” Neilson also shared that she had difficulty accessing her classes on campus. “There is a severe lack of accessibility in general. DuPont, Melchers and Pollard are inaccessible in particular, which sometimes impacts my ability to attend classes,” said Neilson. The overall lack of on campus accessibility has been and continues to be a concern for disabled students, whether it’s a lack of accessible parking or difficulty accessing buildings. “My final words on the matter of disability on campus are this: at the end of the day, we just want to be students at UMW, not activists. We want to be able to experience the fun of college like everyone else, not drown in all our attempts to be treated equally,” said Wobken.
Registrar designates classes as ‘no cost’ on Banner Students will know of additional fees prior to registration
Andria Theodorou Staff Writer
UMW will begin labeling classes with no textbook costs and other fees as “no cost” classes. This information will be accessible to students before they register for classes. “The ‘no-cost’ class is all about students not having to pay $100 or more for textbooks for their classes for the upcoming spring 2020 semester. Student’s will not have to pay any fees for their classes’ textbooks,” said senior associate registrar Kevin Caffrey. This designation will not require
much change from what professors are already asked to do before the start of each semester. This new requirement will merely mean adding textbook information earlier on in the process and
The ‘no-cost’ class is all about students not having to pay $100 or more for textbooks for their classes for the upcoming spring 2020 semester.” -Kevin Caffrey
The new system aims to prepare students for potential costs. Emilia Michalkiewicz / The Blue & Gray Press
IN THIS
ISSUE
keeping all pricing information fully disclosed from the beginning. “Every semester, department chairs are asked to submit the list of courses their department will offer the following semester. Beginning this semester, chairs were also asked to indicate which of their courses did not require students to purchase any
textbooks or other course materials,” said economics professor Steve Greenlaw. While this could influence students’ decisions to take on classes or not based on efforts to save money, the hope is that students will be more informed so they can prepare for the costs coming their way in required classes. “This information shows up in the registration materials on Banner. Since the instructor Professors will be exploring the use of digital resources in order to save usually chooses students money on textbooks. Emilia Michalkiewicz / The Blue & Gray Press the textbooks for a course, they tell the department chair if their course has no communication. textbook costs, and the chair reports it to “Personally, the communication the registrar,” said Greenlaw. faculty aims to limit the out of pocket “I was asked to report if I am offering costs for CDS [communication and a ‘no-cost class’ for spring 2020, which digital studies] students,” said Crosby. I am, using scanned book materials “We are exploring various digital and PDF articles via Canvas versus resources to help keep book and texts a traditional textbook for purchase,” costs down, especially for COMM 205: said Emily Crosby, professor of Public Speaking.”
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