page 4
The Fourth Wall
Emily Cowdrick
College students have
plenty of things to worry
about -- grades, work, rela-
tionships, finances -- and
worrying about operating a
wheelchair on their college
campus should not be one of
them. The worry is legiti-
mate at Penn State Mont Al-
to. The Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA)
Standards for Accessible
Design were updated as re-
cently as 2010, and Penn
State Mont Alto is held to
them. While it may be that
Penn State Mont Alto is le-
gally ADA compliant, the
campus is a disaster zone for
a wheelchair user.
While there is wheelchair
access to every public build-
ing on campus, there is a
lack of wheelchair access
between buildings on the
campus. To the casual eye
this may not appear so, but
the only sound between-
building wheelchair access
on this campus is between
Studies Building and the
Science and Technology
Building, though only a few
yards apart, are not practi-
cally accessible to each oth-
er. They are separated by a
hill steep enough to cause
struggle to a wheelchair us-
er. The passage through the
Science and Technology
Building double-door is sep-
arated down the middle by a
bar, making a wheelchair
difficult to maneuver
through. The extreme is the
hill between the Wiestling
Student Center and the Mul-
tipurpose Activities Center;
it is dangerous downhill and
Everest uphill.
There is no practical on-
campus housing option for
wheelchair users. Mont Al-
to Hall is closest to the main
buildings on campus, and it
sits at the highest point on
campus accessible only by
hills. The Penn Gate com-
plexes are significantly
away from the main build-
ings on campus, separated
by two public roads and a
large hill. Because of dis-
tance, Mont Alto Hall can
be considered the lesser of
the evils. Dormitories are
classified as “Transient
Lodging Guest Rooms” by
the ADA, and there are re-
quirements for Guest Rooms
with Mobility Fea-
tures. Based on the total
number of rooms provided,
there is a required number of
rooms with mobility fea-
tures, and within those num-
bers are requirements for
roll-in bathrooms and show-
ers. Because of the age of
Mont Alto Hall, it may le-
gally get away with not hav-
ing roll-in showers. Stu-
dents in Mont Alto Hall
must resort to wheeling into
the main area of the commu-
nal bathroom and crawling
from their wheelchairs to the
bathroom stalls and show-
ers.
Behind technicalities only
someone familiar with the
code would know, Penn
State Mont Alto could be
entirely ADA compliant,
therefore manageable to a
wheelchair user. The school
might even offer transporta-
tion to classes for the stu-
dent. Manageable, right?
Imagine you are a resi-
dent of Mont Alto Hall, and
you use a wheelchair. It is
nine o’clock at night, and
your friends want to go to
The Mill for a quick snack
before it closes. Social and
hungry as you are, you want
to go too. To do this, you
might: exit the doors of
Mont Alto Hall, get out of
your wheelchair, drag it
down the three stairs to the
sidewalk, wheel over to the
hill, wheel down the hill via
the grass, wheel into The
Mill, get food, exit The Mill,
wheel up the hill without
stopping so that you do not
get stuck
partway,
get out of
the wheel-
chair at
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ing, drag
the wheelchair up the three
stairs into the building, and
wheel into the building you
go.
Manageable, right?
A student’s success should
never be hindered by a disa-
bility of any kind. If you are
in need of an accommoda-
tion, please contact Disabil-
ity Liason Kendra Wolgast
in the Academic Support
Center.
the bookstore and The
Mill. Even the General
Protests
(continued from pg. 2)
The protests in the Middle
East have presented Presi-
dent Obama with a new for-
eign policy crisis, which
was created less than two
months before re-election.
New information says that
Obama has vowed to bring
forth those responsible for
the Benghazi attack to jus-
tice, and has sent warships
to Libya to prevent and give
backup for any future situa-
tions. However, the U.S.
embassy is still in the cross-
fire of the situation. In Tu-
nis, the ruling party of
Egypt, the Muslim Brother-
hood, is going to keep pro-
testing and organizing
marches and mobs in front
of Mosques, however, no
activity like this is rising
outside the U.S. embassy in
Cairo, Egypt. Egypt disa-
grees with most of the pro-
tests, saying that the U.S.
should not be blamed. Egypt
is, however, demanding that
the U.S. take legal action
against the offensive film’s
creator.
After interviews with the
Italian leaders in Rome,
President Mohammad Morsi
is making a determined ef-
fort to protect foreign diplo-
mats while in his countries.
He also made it very clear
in stating that the film that
was made was unaccepta-
ble. Four arrests have also
been made in Libya to keep
up the investigation on the
attack that killed the U.S.
ambassador Christopher
Stevens. U.S. officials be-
lieve it was possible that it
was planned, by an al-
Qaeda-linked group. Ac-
cording to the Aljazeera
news reporting. The video
Muslims, but will the U.S.
act against the films crea-
tors? Ultimately it is our
right to free speech that will
be protected amongst all.
However, the question re-
mains, as U.S. troops pre-
pare to leave the Middle
East, what will happen to