FEBRUARY 05, 2014
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Opinion
News Chartwells responds to criticisms through Twitter
Wright Life
The art of judging Page 4
International student spotlight
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ISSUE NO. 19 VOL. 50
Sports
Entertainment
Men’s Basketball: Donlon can use Super Bowl result to teach defensive lesson
WSU celebrates the lunar new year Page 6
Page 9
Some doors still closed
WSU not fully accessible for students with disabilities Adia Lane Contributing Writer Lane.53@wright.edu
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Photo by Adia Lane: Contributing Writer
right State was recently named a “Top 5 disability friendly school,” yet some disabled students have struggled with opening some of the classroom doors. “Not long ago I had emergency surgery leaving me in a wheelchair during finals week,” a student that wished to remain anonymous said. “When I went to take my final exam, I was already stressed out enough as it was, but it only added to the stress when I couldn’t even get into the room my exam was in because I couldn’t open the classroom door...it was kind of embarrassing.” It wasn’t until this student accidently bumped the door with their wheelchair that someone noticed them trying to get into the room and opened the door for them. Many students on campus cannot open doors themselves and require handicap accessible entrances, yet most classrooms at WSU are not equipped with accessible entrances.
“I was born with my disability—Cerebral Palsy, so I’ve dealt with these issues my whole life,” WSU student Dylan Streibig said. “WSU’s system is far from perfect, but comparatively speaking it’s wonderful. I’ve had nothing but good experiences in ODS. I’d like classroom doors as well, but I’m not holding my breath. Sadly, I’ve waited my whole life for doors. I’m numb to it.” Independence isn’t always cheap, and many times cost is the only barrier. “There is a weight tolerance that the doors have to meet and if they are under the weight tolerance they are not required to be automatic because it requires minimal effort to open the doors” said Interim Director of the Office of Disability Services Katherine Meyer. “If we were to install automatic doors on all classrooms it would millions of dollars because it’s in the neighborhood of $1,500 per door.” “When it comes to making all classroom doors accessible, my first step as part of student government would be to write up a resolution and state how much it would cost to modify the class-
room doors, which I am sure would be pretty expensive and is probably why it hasn’t been done already.” said Director of Disability Affairs of student government Megan Gillespie. Gillespie spent her previous semester speaking with students to discover what things on campus could improve and what Wright State could do to make campus more accessible. “Some of the concerns I got were that some students cannot physically press the buttons in the elevator to select which floor they need to go to, so I went online to see what options might be available such as voice activation, only to find it would cost millions of dollars to have them installed,” said Gillespie. Gillespie feels that accommodations such as fully accessible classroom doors and elevators are important to the independence of disabled students, but the funding isn’t always available to make such accommodations. See ACCESSIBILITY on Page 3
Swim Team Caps Off Final Home Meet with wins Justin Kinner Contributing Writer Kinner.3@wright.edu
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ince starting the season with solid winning records, coach Kyle Oaks and his swim team have hit a bit of a rough patch. The young squad dropped three of their previous four meets on the men’s side (9-3), while the women (5-8) dropped their previous six meets heading into last Friday’s final home meet of the season against Xavier. The men pulled away with a
115-90 victory, while the women pulled through with a 130-107 victory, giving both teams momentum heading into the final month in preparing for the Horizon League Championships. The Raiders came out hot as both men’s and women’s 400-yard medley relay teams won their first two events of the evening. However, Xavier quickly countered by winning their next six freestyle events. At that pivotal point in the meet, See SWIM on Page 9
Photo by Justin Kinner: Contributing Writer Team Huddle at the end of the meet