News

ADA compliance reviewed by Department of Justice

In print | November 12, 2009

Members of the Department of Justice visited campus two weeks ago to ensure that the college is making progress in meeting the Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines for Buildings and Facilities (ADAAG).

Both ADA Program Manager Susan Smythe and Vice President for Facilities and Services Stu Hain said that the lawyer on the college’s case and the Department of Justice’s in-house architect think that the college is on track.

“They noticed progress, which was very nice,” Smythe said. “I think it’s fair to say they’re very pleased with Swarthmore and our demonstrated commitment in this area.”

Hain agreed: “[They] said that we were the model on how they like people to behave.”

Passed in 1990 and made effective in 1992, the ADA is a comprehensive piece of civil rights legislation that prohibits discrimination against disabled people. The act calls for, among other things, accessibility guidelines for buildings and facilities.

Smythe said that the Department of Justice’s last visit to campus was in the summer of 2007, when violations to the ADAAG were found.

In December of last year, the college submitted a plan to the Department of Justice on how it would address ADAAG violations by 2013. Hain said that, while the college submitted this, it at the same time asked the Department of Justice for “a reduced scope” to facility changes because of the economy’s instability.

While the Department of Justice agreed to these terms, it asked the college for a list of projects it would address over the next year. The department’s recent visit was to make sure these were addressed.

Smythe and Hain said changes were made over the summer. They included an accessible entrance and bathroom at the Black Cultural Center’s Robinson House, an accessible bathroom in Willets Hall’s Mephistos Lounge, an accessible bathroom and revised ramp at Ben West House, flatter pathways around the academic quad, changes to Science Center bathrooms, and some work in Kohlberg Hall.

Smythe added that work on the Wister Center — the greenhouse by Willets Hall that is soon to open — is even a step forward because it is more accessible than some of Scott Arboretum’s other buildings.

While these changes have been made, there are still facilities that have problems. For example, Smythe said that the fieldhouse doesn’t currently have accessible bathrooms. She added, however, that this should be easy to fix.

She said that ADAAG violations at student social spaces — such as Olde Club, the fraternity houses and the Intercultural Center — are more problematic because they offer unique events and programs that often cannot be held anywhere else.

Smythe told the Phoenix in an April 30 article that the bookstore is particularly non-compliant with the ADAAG because the entrance ramp is too steep and the pathways are too narrow.

She said in a recent e-mail, however, that she thinks the college can address some of these issues in the bookstore over either winter break or spring break.

Smythe said that all these projects would be addressed somehow by 2013.

“I think [they] feel that we’ll continue this work on our own, which is what we’ve said all along — even if we can’t finish it by 2013,” she said.

Smythe said that the college is “tremendously hampered in [its] progress right now because of the economic situation.”

Though the economy has seen some improvement recently, the college still plans to annually cut $5.7 million out of the capital facility budget, Hain said. This annual cut spans a three-year time span, which started last June. The facility capital budget was roughly $8.9 million before and is now roughly $3.2 million. He added that this $5.7 million cut was meant to go toward the operating budget, which covers everything from financial aid to funding for academic departments.

The facility capital budget involves anything that deals with faculties and buildings, from yearly adjustments to bigger projects.

Vice President for Finance and Treasurer Suzanne Welsh told the Phoenix in an April 30 story that the “deferring of the facility capital budget is part of an overall effort to reduce our endowment spending, which has been necessitated by the downturn of the endowment.”

Before the economy started to deteriorate, the college planned on spending $2.5 million dollars a year on ADA changes. Now with budget cuts, Hain said the college will spend about $500,000 on this area.

“Suffice to say that cutting $5 million leaves us with a very small pot of money to work with, and that’s what makes it difficult,” Smythe said.

Instead of doing three or four larger projects each year to meet the ADAAG, the college will now do only one, Smythe said. This summer the college will do work in Kohlberg Hall, specifically on its bathrooms and coffee bar.

Hain said in an April 30 article that the Department of Justice would take the college to federal court if the college didn’t eventually address its ADAAG violations.

The college would then be forced to make these changes as well as face consequences determined by the judge.