Accessibility: Businesses try to accommodate students m Continued from Page 1 volved a student getting stuck on a wheelchair lift in the stairwell adjacent to the International Lounge in the EMU last year. Be cause of the incident, the wheel chair lift was officially decommis sioned, Gerdes said. This had a substantial effect on the International Lounge and the EMU as a whole. EMU director Dusty Miller said that with the de commissioned wheelchair lift, the mezzanine level, which includes the International Lounge, and the north edge of the original EMU, including the art gallery level, at least seven student organization offices and the Emerald offices are inaccessible to students with disabilities. Programs in the EMU that are no longer accessible have to move to a more accessible space, or stu dents have to make prior arrange ments with the program to receive help to follow regulations, Miller said. “If a student wishes to be in volved, which they have every right to do, we need to move the service to the student,” he said. To help ease the problem of ac cessibility in the EMU, Miller said an elevator will eventually be in stalled to serve the International Lounge and the upper levels of the EMU. An architect was hired to design plans for an elevator. Renovations would include the installation of the elevator and renovation of the International Lounge. The cost of the proposed elevator renovations alone would be about $500,000. “Right now, we’re at the begin ning edge of fund raising for this,” Miller said. The EMU board peti tioned the Oregon State System of Higher Education for student building-fee money in November, and it is working with Public Af fairs and Development to see if there are fund-raising opportuni ties using private donations. “We are certainly looking at our own reserves, which unfortunate ly for us are very depleted be cause of the many other needs in this building that we knew about prior to the University taking these lifts offline,” he said. Students who talk to Disability Services are told to avoid the lifts, Gerdes said. “Lifts don't work,” University planning associate Fred Tepfer said. “When lifts work, it’s a mira cle. They don’t work reliably enough to provide access, so we try not to encourage people to use them. They give an erroneous im pression that they provide acces sibility.” “Most students are wary of them anyway,” Gerdes said. The keys to the lift are no longer given out in the EMU. hi Cranor’s experience, they are not used very much. “I don’t know of anyone in my four years [at the University] who has ever used them,” she said. “That’s a statement in itself.” There are fewer and fewer places around campus that re quire the use of lifts, Tepfer said. Other means of accessibility are being created to help avoid using them, including elevators. “The lifts that were built were just junk,” he said. “Mechanical ly, we’re comparing a $10,000 de vice to a $50,000 device. Well, the $50,000 device is probably going to work a little better. On top of that, everyone uses elevators, so just the slightest thing wrong with it, someone is going to call for re pairs.” And they do. Since Jan. 1,1997, 27 calls were made about the two elevators in Prince Lucien Camp bell, facilities maintenance manger John Chappell said. There were 14 calls about the EMU ele vators, and 14 calls were made about the elevator in Lawrence, most because it was stuck be tween floors. The second occurrence that brought accessibility to the Uni versity’s attention was when a disabled student had to get out of his wheelchair and make his way down a flight of stairs in Lawrence after the elevator was turned off for repairs. “I think it’s damn sad that it takes an incident like in Lawrence to bring [accessibility] up." Chap pell said. It takes $100,000 to $120,000 a year to maintain the elevators. This includes cleaning the pit un derneath the car and the car itself, oiling different parts and keeping up the machine room that runs it. ne saia. “We pay at tention to them,” he said. “They’re costly items and re placement costs are hor rendous." Many reno vation projects to help with ac c e ssibi1it y would be ideal, Tepfer said. However, the price of getting new elevators — around $1 20,1)00 — holds them back. “Assuming we ever get state funding again ... we need an ele vator project in Fenton, we need an elevator project in Friendly, and we need to Fix about 10 mil lion nasty places around cam pus.” The University will continue to work on the barriers around cam pus, Tepfer said. Cranor said as long as she can get to where she’s supposed to be, the University is doing well. “I’m still kind of new in a chair, so I’m willing to go through the basement or the boiler room as long as I’m in the same place as my peers,” she said. As the University helps stu dents with disabilities get around campus, business owners on 13th Avenue also help students with physical disabilities. The building that houses Student Projects, Inc., Sigmunds Cleaners and Campus Shoe Shop has a step in front of the businesses. But that doesn’t stop services. Journalism major Ed Hartley tapped on the window of SPI at the beginning of the term and re ceived more than just curbside service. In his Economics 101 class, note-taker Stacey Wolfe de livers notes to him in class instead of having him go to SPI to pick them up. Assuming we ever get state funding again... we need an elevator project in Fenton, we need an elevator project in Friendly, and we need to J'ix about 10 million nasty places around campus. Fred Tepfer University Planning Associate “They really understand the situation,” he said. Craig Van houtte, chair man of the SPI board of direc tors, said the board recog nized the prob lem and has told workers to be alert for any one who needs curbside ser vice. SPI has a back door on the ground floor, but it’s not very accommodating, he said. The landlord of the building, Jerry Martin, said the building is so old that any major renovations would cost more than could be af forded. “[Access] could be better, but the building was built something like 100 years ago,” he said. “There’s nothing we can really do except tear the whole building down and start over. We try to ser vice people as well as we can with what we have.” Under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1992, businesses are required to give in dividuals with disabilities full and equal employment of the goods, services, facilities and privileges they offer. All newly constructed or renovated facilities must be barrier-free; however. older buildings that were stand ing before the ADA passed don’t necessarily have to be renovated, Karla Rutherford of the Northwest Disability Business Technical As sistance Center said. “There are some very gray areas where the ADA comes in,” she said. As long as a way to serve dis abled patrons is established, such as the curbside service Student Projects, Inc., provides, major ren ovations don’t need to be made, she said. Two other defenses businesses have are undue financial hard ship on the business or the health and safety hazard to people with in the business or people using the business. The University must uphold the same guidelines under Title III of the ADA, and it has the same defenses. To accommodate dis abled students who have classes in buildings that are not readily accessible, Gerdes flags the class es that disabled students are plan ning to attend and gives the list to the Registrar’s Office to move those classes before the term be gins. This has made getting to class easier for Cranor. “Out of the fours years here, I’ve only had three classes moved, and they were because there were no available elevators in the edu cation building upstairs, or the routes between classes were up hill," she said. The University has done a good job at making campus acces sible to students, Cranor said. The only two buildings on campus that don’t have immediate access are Fenton and Friendly. “It’s not the actual access I have a major problem with, but if I get up to a physical barrier and need help, people are always willing to help,” she said. “The attitudes of people on campus are so great. The saving face of the University is the people. ” Tell your family and friends to read the Oregon Daily Emerald now available on the world wide web http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~ode Immediate Opportunities for Qualified Students (OfficeTeam Offers Rewarding Opportunities and Benefits for Qualified Students) Because OfficeTeam is recognized as the leader in specialized administrative staffing, you can count on us to provide you with rewarding assignments at top companies. M a , Plus, you can also qualify for the industry’s M H#JE ■ CAi“ most comprehensive benefits plan and tuition reimbursement! 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