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news KANSAN.COM/NEWS THURSDAY, JULY 7, 2016
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TACKETT FROM
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as well as encouraging female athletes to attend just-off-campus parties meant to entertain football recruits.
Dan Curry, Tackett's lawyer, said the policies were discovered in witness interviews, and there is no official written policy that he has seen.
"We haven't done any discovery yet either," he said. "There could be an official policy. Policy is kind of a term of art. You could have a policy that is not written down, an unwritten policy. And it can be an official one, in that it is one that some higher-up has endorsed."
"I think there might be a written policy out there. We have to find out. If there is not a written policy, that doesn't deter us at all," Curry said. "We can establish that there is a policy through witness testimony."
Curry said the court will allow the University a period of time to respond to the motion to amend the petition, either to oppose it or allow the petition to be amended with the new information. He said a conference to set future dates in the case will occur within a few weeks of the University responding to the motion.
- Edited by Candice Tarver
ADA FROM PAGE1
range of abilities.
"We're built into a hill, so figuring out how to navigate the topography is a huge challenge," Johnson said.
However, these standards only apply to structures and renovations implemented after 2012, according to the ADA website. Many of the University's older buildings and historical buildings still remain below standards of accessibility. But construction of new dorms and buildings such as the business school along with renovations to buildings like Summerfield Hall are improving the landscape over time.
According to Johnson, multiple offices are accountable for accessibility in the construction process. Many of these features are obvious to contractors, such as ramps and elevators, as well as accessible bathrooms with full-size stalls and lower sinks. But not all disabilities are visible, and the Office of Design & Construction Management (DCM) works with the crews to highlight some of the finer details.
"There's a requirement in the 2010 standards for auditoriums to have assistive listening systems," Johnson said. "And sometimes that's something that's forgotten until it's pointed out."
Budig, Haworth and the new Capitol Federal Hall have all been outfitted with assistive listening systems to help people with hearing impairments in lecture
halls. These accommodations include an FM microphone system and an induction looping system installed in the floors and ceilings of the venue, to transmit audio from lecturers directly to students' hearing aids.
We're built into a hill, so figuring out how to navigate the topography is a huge challenge."
Catherine Johnson ADA office director
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Johnson stressed the importance of inclusivity for all disabilities when designing new features. She said this has been emphasized while creating and modifying digital materials. The ADA office aided in the recent launch of Accessible KU, an umbrella site for all accessibility resources and offices offered at KU. The site includes a number of visual resources, such as accessibility maps, that are still being updated in light of ongoing construction.
"Some of [the maps] are old enough that they have buildings that don't exist on them anymore," Johnson said. "We're all aware of that and we're working on it."
Presently, Accessible KU offers four separate maps for main campus, west campus, parking and the Hawk
Route. The parking map is the most recently updated, since it includes the two new dorms, but Johnson is working to combine all four into a single, comprehensive map.
The Hawk Route is an accessible route connecting Sunnyside Avenue with Jayhawk Boulevard through a network of ramps, elevators and tunnels. According to the ADA office, the route is about 450 feet and guides users both inside and outside with signs labeled "Hawk Route," located along pathways and near automatic doors and elevators. As of now, the Hawk Route primarily utilizes those buildings in compliance with the 2010 standards.
"We're working on making that route even more accessible," said Johnson.
Johnson said the ADA office is creating video guides to show people using the route. It is currently being edited and will likely be rolled out in August. The Hawk Route will also be supplemented with an audio script of the route so people with visual impairments can download it as a podcast and more easily navigate campus.
While the Americans with Disabilities Act re-
campuses to comply with certain standards of accessibility, it does not provide any funding for Universities to do so, Johnson said. The DCM has a list of projects that are not up to standards and sets aside money for ADA projects, but it's up to University leadership to determine how that money is spent.
Contributed Photo The Hawk Route is one of four Accessible KU maps for campus.
Contributed Photo for campus.
"Some of our buildings
are older, so it's a challenge to include every site that someone might want to access," she said. "Every building on campus needs to be accessible. There is a cost to keep in mind, but if there's a building we know that doesn't have an elevator, that has to be a top priority."
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