During our editing meeting for this Student Movement issue, some of our staff members, after reading Reagan Westerman’s article on Andrews’ accessibility accommodations, decided to take a brief field trip and check one of her claims. We went to Marsh Hall to find out if it was accessible and had a functioning elevator. So, at about 6:30 p.m., we walked around the building to find a ground-level door or one with a ramp. We found just one ground-level door and none with a ramp. The singular ground-level entryway was guarded by the red light of a card reader we could not get past, even with a faculty ID card. We do not know if this entrance would have led to an elevator or ramp inside (the main floor of Marsh Hall is not level with the ground, and this would be necessary for students needing physical assistance), as it was opaque, and we could not see what was past the door. We then climbed a flight of stairs - as we had found no other way to get up to the building’s main floor during our expedition - on the south-side entrance and stumbled around the building, trying to find an elevator. Our social media manager had to look at the building floor map to locate it. Unbeknownst to us, we had actually walked right past it when we first came in. Even with the floor map, we had to ask an unassuming nursing student where it even was. He led us back to a wall we had already passed and pointed to two closet-like doors that blended in with the white wall. He proceeded to press a button on one side of the entrance and held it down, all the while peering into the tiny windows of the elevator doors to see if the cart was up yet. When it finally arrived, he opened the metallic, non-automatic doors to reveal an ancient wooden gate that we were to push up and out of the way (once again, non-automatic). Inside, on a small, weathered platform, rested a friendly triceratops. We do not know if this was for storage purposes, but it certainly was not put there with students with physical disabilities in mind. We observed further abnormalities, and we plan to report on them in the near future. Please look out for an issue dedicated to the state of accessibility on our campus. As an editorial staff, we agree that what we saw today was unacceptable, and we will be sure to report on this concern for the edification of the university and its students.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.