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Chancellor Kent Syverud has approved the second phase of recommendations made by Syracuse University’s Disability External Review Committee. 

The committee was established on Syverud’s request in April 2018 following an audit from an expert. It is composed of SU faculty, staff and students who issued reports and recommendations on related issues, according to an SU news release. 

“I am so grateful to the Disability External Review Committee,” said Syverud in a campus-wide email Wednesday. “Their report provides the clarity and focus needed to ensure that Syracuse University continues to be a national leader in disability culture, policy, education and advocacy.”

SU’s Board of Trustees Special Committee on University Climate, Diversity and Inclusion noted in a March report that 10,000 obstructions of campus buildings and facilities could be considered accessibility code violations. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires institutions to update facilities to comply with the law, but it makes exceptions for cases where those updates aren’t “readily achievable.”

The university previously created the Office of Disability Access and Inclusion in part to implement the first phase of recommendations provided by the committee. The committee initially planned to issue its second phase of recommendations by this spring.

Based on the second phase of recommendations — which Syverud said in the news release that he supports the immediate implementation of — SU will provide advising support to facilitate students’ access to learning services and enhance faculty’s abilities to provide an accessible, inclusive teaching. The university will continue to enhance accessible purchasing of technology applications, products and services.

The university will also include language that discriminates against disability as violations of the code of student conduct, faculty manual and other regulation documents. 

The university will enhance the accessibility of its websites in a systematic way, according to the news release, as well as will include students with visible disabilities in its marketing materials. Navigation, maps and visitor guides for campus and the Carrier Dome will be accessible and clear, based on the recommendations. 

SU will appoint a Disability Access and Inclusion Council formed by faculty, staff and student representatives who will provide input to a broader campus-wide initiative on diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility strategies. The university expects to announce the members list by Aug. 1.

Published on June 23, 2021 at 3:18 pm

Contact Francis: btang05@syr.edu | @francis_towne