A small group of students staged a walkout at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh this week, accusing the university of discriminating against people with disabilities.
The students claim the university is violating the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. They argue the violations “undermine the rights and dignity of students with disabilities” and create barriers to accessing an education.
Melissa Mitchler has multiple sclerosis and has been attending school part-time for nine years. She is scheduled to graduate this spring. In an interview with WPR, she said that when she enrolled at UW Oshkosh, her professors were understanding of the accommodations she needed.
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When classes returned to in-person classes after the pandemic, things changed, she said: Whereas before it was a given, now she felt she had to prove she had extenuating circumstances.
“It’s honestly one of the most heartbreaking feelings in the world. I feel like I’ve been blindsided,” she said. “I feel like I was a stupid kid with rose-colored glasses.”
She said professors now demand medical certificates, ignore her requests and give her special treatment in class. Her relationship with the school has deteriorated.
“How can you still respect a school when you see it take the best of it and throw it away?” she said.
Mitchell is part of the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Disability Advocates, which staged a walkout on May 1. Members of the group called for the school to improve academic support and infrastructure for students with disabilities.
Melissa Mitcheller is a member of the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Disability Advocacy Group. She spoke about her experience as a student with a disability at the May 1 walkout. Joe Schultz/WPR
Last year, the university announced a budget deficit of $18 million. To address the deficit, the university developed a restructuring plan that included reducing staff numbers by 250 through layoffs, voluntary retirements and not filling vacant positions.
The university says it has halved the number of staff working with students with disabilities from eight to four, and students say their requests for help are delayed or rejected, and their academic performance suffers because they don’t get the help they need.
“Students with disabilities are being left behind,” sophomore Sophia Schneider said during the strike.
Students argued that the budget cuts disproportionately affected students with disabilities – an argument disputed by university chief executive Alex Hamel.
“We are working hard to provide a robust, high-quality service,” Hamel said. “I believe all students will feel the impact of the cuts, so we’ve been as careful as we can to ensure the student experience isn’t negatively impacted.”
Students also said campus facilities were inaccessible to students with disabilities. Issues, they said, included above-ground pipes blocking walkways, broken elevators and insufficient handicapped parking spaces.
Above-ground piping blocks a walkway at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, and students with disabilities say it makes it difficult to get around. Photo by Sophia Schneider.
“We have repeatedly asked campus administrators and staff to revisit these issues and find a way to allocate funds for disability services,” freshman Allie Boland said.
Hamel said the university is listening to concerns and doing its best to make changes where possible. He said they have dimmed the lights in testing centers and installed white noise machines. The university plans to conduct disability training and seminars for faculty over the summer.
“I think we’re doing the best we can, and I know people are working really hard to accommodate students since we’ve dealt with cuts,” Hamel said.
Campus administrators met in February to discuss disability services on campus and the impact of budget cuts. Holly Ludwig Callahan, the dean of students’ accessibility coordinator, told students she was compiling a list of “problematic” professors, according to a transcript of the meeting provided by the student organization.
“We have to fight for you. That’s our responsibility. But you also have to make sure you don’t get tired of fighting for yourself,” Ludwig Callahan said, according to the minutes.
The group has asked the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights and the Wisconsin Department of Justice to investigate the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh for discrimination against people with disabilities, said Chris Walker, a disabled military veteran and one of the group’s leaders.
At least one student filed complaints with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, but both were dismissed.
In response to the complaint, the U.S. Department of Education said the school “has not provided specific examples of students who were denied assistance in violation of federal law.”
“No one is listening to us,” Mitchell said. “I have to constantly fight for the basics of human rights.”
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