While Rowan University makes an effort to be inclusive and accessible to all students, it is the opinion of The Whit Staff that the university does not go far enough in making the school accessible to those with physical disabilities, particularly those affecting mobility.
One major issue is the number of parking lots across campus that are nowhere near a class building, the Ellis Street parking lot being the most obvious culprit of this. While this parking lot and many others still have handicapped parking, it does little good when the closest buildings are still a five to ten-minute walk away, if not longer. And that’s if they are able to find parking anywhere near their intended building at all and don’t have to park clearly across campus.
Instead of making students with mobility difficulties, chronic pain conditions, or other major physical disabilities walk long distances, sometimes in extreme heat or cold, or the rain, all things that can make mobility more difficult or worsen pain, the campus should allow these students to park in lots close to the buildings they need to be in. Even if this means they have to park in an employee lot.
The issue of these long walking distances is only compacted by the poor conditions of the roads and sidewalks throughout Glassboro. While this is not something the university can easily fix by itself, Rowan’s incredible power in the community could be used to influence the town to improve the condition of the infrastructure.
If that could not be done, Rowan could provide more reliable shuttle transportation. While it is great that Rowan provides a shuttle service for students, it needs to be more efficient. The app that tracks the shuttle and the posted schedules at the shuttle stops are often wrong, leaving students who may be on tight schedules waiting for unknown amounts of time until the next shuttle comes by.
Some of the buildings on campus, particularly 301 High Street and Westby Hall, are also difficult to access for those who are not able to easily use the stairs. If Rowan’s Art Gallery is closed, the elevator to 301 High Street is not accessible unless an individual goes through the back of the building. The door to the rear entrance is not always unlocked and the scanner next to the door does not always recognize student ID cards to allow them entrance to the building. Westby Hall features a similar issue, at least through its front entrance, where students open the door to see only a flight of stairs leading to the upper or lower floors.
Besides those with disabilities affecting mobility, Rowan also needs to be more inclusive in its meal plan options. Those with different allergies could have more accommodations. While meetings with the campus’s dietitian can help these students, it would be better if students with allergies had more options on their meal plans that would not cause a reaction.
While Rowan does do a lot of things to make the campus accessible to all students, more needs to be done to alleviate undue burdens.
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