University Daily Kansan / Tuesday, September 18, 1990
Campus/Area
3
KU job fairs inaccessible to the handicapped
By Yvonne Guzman
Kansan staff writer
Glen White, a doctoral student in human development and family life, said he would have liked to have gone to the School of Law job fair tomorrow at Allen Field House.
White cannot go to the job fair, which will be on the second floor of Allen Field Museum.
"I would have been interested in going and talking to somebody from IBM if the answer was "no."
All University of Kansas students are invited to the School of Business and the School of Engineering job fairs today and tomorrow, but those in wheelchairs will be offered to leave the fair and come to the first floor to discuss job opportunities.
"This is clearly discriminatory," White said. "It sends a message to them that the person they're going to interview is less than able."
KU is required by the 1973 Rehabilitation Act to make all its activities accessible to the physically handicapped. White said.
"What would happen if they tried to do this and said Blacks couldn't come," White said. "Basically, that's what they're trying to do to people with disabilities."
At last year's fair, a student in a wheelchair asked if he could be carried up to the job fair but was told that the liability would have been too great. White said.
Fred Madaus, placement director for the School of Business, said the school was "absolutely making a huge impact."
But the field house is one of the only places on campus large enough to accommodate the number of employers and students expected to attend, Maddus said.
working for the past few years with Legal Services for Students and the Student Assistance Program.
The school is looking at the possibility of having future job fairs at Anschutz Sports Pavilion, which is accessible to disabled people.
There are 110 organizations scheduled to come to the business fair and 82 scheduled to come to the engineering fair. Madua has two organizations with 600 students to attend the business job fair.
But White said space should not take priority
"The point is they're holding it against the law." White said. "They're discriminating against people."
But disabled students have not been fortnited. Madaua said.
"We are very definitely concerned," he said. "We do not want anybody to be left alone."
Disabled students will be able to see a list of employees and a floor plan of the job fair at an area on the first floor of the field house, Maddaus said.
He said he realized the special arrangement would not be a perfect substitute for disabled students who wanted to attend the school. He said it would be able to look at displays and other materials.
Another disadvantage is that students at the designated first-floor area might have to wait a considerable amount of time before they can get to companies that only send one representative, he
said. But there probably will be waiting involved for all students.
Tom Berger, assistant director of the Office of Affirmative Action, said the University has been attempting to upgrade accessibility to handicapped students by releasing programs and events in building buildings as the University can afford it.
"It's not something you can do over night," he said.
But White said it was something that needed to be done before next year.
"We would definitely pursue some legal action," he said. "We meaning the disabled community. I think businesses out there are willing to hire people with disabilities. But they have to be able to work with them. That's the frustrating part."
KU working to help disabled
By Mike Brassfield
Kansan staff writer
Students often complain that walking up and down Mount Oread can be tiring. But for disabled people, access to campus buildings can be a challenge.
The University of Kansas is working to change that.
Mike Richardson, acting director of facilities operations, said his department was involved in an ongoing program to make the campus more accessible to physically disabled people.
"We change things whenever we have the chance," he said. "For instance, whenever we replace an old sidewalk, we always put curb cuts in."
Greg Wade, landscape architect for facilities planning, said all new construction on campus was designed with the physically disabled
"The whole idea behind the design of the Dole Center is to accommodate physically challenged people," he said.
The Dole Human Development
Center has 10 handicapped parking places, a ramp on the front of the building for disabled people and curb in the sidewalks surrounding it.
The building also incorporates more modern design features, such as Braille button boards in the elevators, Wade said.
"All of our new buildings will have some of those same elements," he said. "We always have this as a high priority when we're looking at new construction or at any new improvements that have to be made."
Wade said that improvements were made to make campus more accessible only where such improvements were wise.
David Schaecher, assistant director of facilities planning, is a member of the Architectural Barriers Committee, a group of faculty, staff and student representatives that is concerned with campus accessibility.
"Obviously if an area is too steep for people who are in wheelchairs, then we don't encourage them to go that way," he said.
planned, we review the plans and make recommendations," he said.
Schaecher said the buildings that would be built on West Campus, such as the new University Press building and the Lied Center for the Performing Arts, were designed to be accessible to disabled students.
The Lied Center will have ramps, elevators, special bathroom stalls, handcarped parking and special showrooms. The center is built in its auditorium. Schaecher said.
Mike Miller, associate director of facilities operations, said his department was involved in an ongoing program to renovate campus bathrooms to make them more accessible.
Miller said the department had finished work in Wescow and Haworth halls and was renovating bathrooms on the first and third floors of the building, a length of the halls is being extended and new railings are being installed.
Whenever construction is
"A person in a wheelchair has a right to privacy just like everyone else," he said.
Group works to recruit Indians
By Holly M. Neuman
Kansan staff writer
a group that had appeared and disappeared on the University of Kansas campus through the years resurfaced last spring and now hopes to attract more American Indians to KU.
"It is easy to be isolated at KU." Middleton said. "Since there are so few Native Americans on campus, we don't have a scerem and not see another one."
Jim Middleton, Lawrence senior,
said there were fewer than 100
American Indian students at KU,
and the Native American Student
Association thought it was important
to bring them together.
Middleton said the group wanted to attract more Haskell Indian Junior College students to KU.
"There have been problems in the past with not getting Haskell students to come to KU when they are done." Middleton said.
Bernard King, Fort Defiance,
Ariz. senior, said he hoped the group
would serve as a support group for
the students who transferred from
Haskell
"I was a transfer student from Haskell." King said. "The first semester I was at KU was really hard. It is tough to know what to teach or how to coursework can be tough. We want to help others make the transition."
Another goal that is important is to increase the retention of American Indians at KU. Middleton said. The program, which specializes in the freshman year, is high
Middleton said that the group is
we are working on a Native American awareness week for next spring to help educate campus," Middleton said. "We would like to contemporary Native American can issues and have speakers and films."
working on setting an agenda for the group, but that some ideas are already being worked on.
King said, "We felt there was a big enough number of students to form this group. We aren't as visible as Black Student Union or Hispanic American Leadership Organization, but we hope to make people aware of us."
Middleton also said the group wanted to have a radio program on KANU where issues would be discussed.
C. L. Alliss of the KU police watches as a facilities operations employee removes a bike lock
Illegally parked bikes lose locks
By Debbie Mvers
Kansan staff writer
Locks on five bicycles chained to the wheelchair ramp railing south of Marvin Hall were cut at 10 a.m. yesterday after KU police received a complaint, said Burdel Welsh, KU police officer.
He said that the police contacted the department of facilities operations to cut the locks because it was illegal to block access to wheelchair ramps. The police took four bicycles so they would not be stolen.
Alexander Hamil, Prairie Village junior, said he was walking out of the Art and Design Building when he saw the locks being cut.
He said that he was upset because there was a lack of bicycle parking space on campus and he made no excuse for no attempt to warn students.
"They could have put up some signs the next day," Hamil said. "There are no warning signs around there that say they'll take your bike or cut your lock. I bike to class every day. Just getting your bike locked up is a problem because it's so packed every day."
Bahil's bicycle was not broken.
Bob Porter, associate director of
physical plant facilities operations,
said that his department did not control the amount of bicycle racks on campus.
"If they tell us to put them in, we put them in. If they tell us to cut chains, we cut chains," Porter said. "I can assure you there are not nearly as many bike racks as there are bicycles."
Welsh said that bicycle owners could claim their property at the KU police department on the third floor of Carruth O'Leary Hall with
out being fined for parking their bicycles illegally. The KU police department is not responsible for replacing the bicycle locks.
Hamil said that he thought there was less space to park a bicycle on campus this year than in previous years.
"You can tow a car away, but when you cut a bike lock you're really messing with it and it's a big cost," he said.
Beth Ridenour, who works at Sunflower, a sporting goods shop at 84 Massachusetts St. said that bicycle locks cost from $25 to $30.
Hamil said that removing the bicycles from the wheelchair ramp yesterday would not solve the problem.
"There's going to be somebody who parks their bike there tomorrow," he said.
Senate allocates money for KU students to help local abused children
By Jennifer Schultz
Kansan staff writer
Student Senate has refinanced a KU organization that helps local underprivileged and abused children
She said the foundation provided and directed student volunteers to Lawrence learning centers to help children in need. She also helped children and children from low-
Christine Lynn, Nunemaker senator, sponsored the bill that allocated funding to the KU Cares for Kids Foundation.
income families.
She said the volunteers designed interaction activities with the children to help integrate them into the public school system.
Lynn said there were about 800 KU student volunteers involved in the program, which makes it one of the largest student organizations at the university.
Lynn requested $8,000 from Senate to finance the program. Senate allocated $2,022 to the program.
Lynn said most of the 300 children in the program were in preschool.
"We needed a lot of extra money," she said. "Since the organization is one of the largest on campus, we needed to cater to the larger membership. The money goes directly to the children. For example, it's used to buy a child a new pair of glasses or to buy toy at Christmas."
Lynn said Senate could not allocate the full amount requested because it would not be fair to allocate all money at the beginning of the year.
Senate allocates money from student activity fees. According to
Senate regulations, each KU student pays a $28 activity fee each semester.
Last week Senate allocated a total of $7,734 to five student organizations.
Carl Damon, student body treasurer, said the amount was not unusual.
"It depends on the amount of legislation going through," he said. "Some meetings Senate only has to be discussed with other times there are five or six."
Damon said Senate had to be careful in the first semester not to
allocate too much money.
"We need to save money for those groups who approach us second semester," he said. "Otherwise, it would not be fair."
Damon said the finance committee voted on money requested by student organizations following financing efforts and passing it on to Senate to decide.
He said the guidelines were set according to the needs of the organization.
"We look a few years back at what organizations asked for money and
how much they actually needed," he said. "Most groups don't spend all the money they request."
The money that is not spent by an organization is held to be used the next year. Damon said.
Last week, Senate allocated $3,500 to bring Angela Davis, political activist, to speak on racial relations; $2,022 to the KU Careers for Kids Foundation; $1,200 to the Student Organization; $687 to Black Men of Today; and $252 to finance the Minority Business Students Council.