Access Denied

Inside Higher Ed
August 6, 2008

In a discrimination case that is still crawling through the Louisiana court system after seven years, McNeese State University’s president has asserted that it is not a “high priority” for disabled students to access the university’s student union.
The case, which stems from a 2001 accident, was brought by a student who — while in a wheelchair — was injured trying to pry open a bathroom door in the union. The door was not made accessible for disabled people, according to the suit.
In a 2005 deposition, McNeese President Robert Hebert acknowledged that the institution was “not in 100 percent compliance” with the Americans With Disabilities Act. With limited funding, McNeese has had to make tough choices about how to spend its money on federal compliance, he said. This being the case, Hebert said, academic buildings have reasonably taken priority over the student union, which houses offices, cafeterias, and the student newspaper, among other services.
“Whether or not it’s fundamental for [disabled students] to get into that student union annex or that it’s fundamentally important for them to obtain an education, I would question that,” Hebert said in the deposition, which is now making the rounds on Youtube. “I’m not sure I would regard it as a high priority.”
Under the harshest interpretation, Hebert’s words could mean that he simply doesn’t view giving disabled students an “education” as a “high priority.” In the broader context of his deposition, however, Hebert noted that McNeese was confronted with something of a Sophie’s Choice. Forced to choose between making classrooms accessible and making the union accessible, he said, McNeese chose the classrooms. Whether McNeese lacked the funds to do both, however, is disputed in the lawsuit.
Asked to clarify or expound upon his remarks, Hebert responded in an e-mail Tuesday:
“Accessibility to all facilities is important, but accessibility to academic buildings is critical for classroom instruction,” he wrote. “We have made great progress toward making the campus accessible to all students, employees and visitors. It is, and will be, an ongoing project and one that we take very seriously.”
As of Tuesday, however, the lone women’s restroom in the student union was still not compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act — seven years after a student was injured there.
The law does not require that every bathroom in a building constructed prior to the act’s 1990 passage meet the standards, but it does require that all services and programs be made available to disabled people. [To view the entire article, go to: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/08/06/mcneese ]