Weekly Hornet

Issue date: 9/20/06 Section: News

For most FC students, the various construction projects around campus are a mere nuisance. Nothing more than a change in route as they are forced to skirt around safety fences and equipment, or enduring the rumbling of jackhammers as they disintegrate concrete outside a classroom.

Students with disabilities, however, have to deal with these obstacles on a very different level. As buildings are leveled to make room for the new facilities, the landscape of the college continually changes. Paths that were once open are blocked off for safety reasons, elevators are added, bridges are torn down and new structures are erected.

Raymond Reyes, a physical education major, depends on his wheelchair to get around. Based on the new construction, Reyes has to change his route every time he goes to the 1,000 building or to the Wellness Center.

This is a direct result of the construction of the new Campus Commons Building on the lot where the William T. Boyce library once stood. Reyes now has to go around the 600 Building or the gymnasium to get to his destination.

"I have to go all the way around. where most people use the stairs. It could have been avoided if they would have built a ramp," Reyes said.
"In the summer time it was kind of hard to get around," Reyes added, "Like to get to the cafeteria, everybody else could go up those
little stairs and around. I had to go all the way around again, and I'm sure others felt the same way," Reyes said.

Another trouble area for Reyes and students who depend on a wheelchair for mobility is the west entrance to the cafeteria. A bar divides the two doors and does not leave enough room for a wheelchair to navigate trough it and into
the cafeteria.

"That's an issue too. Sometimes it's hard to get in, especially when it's breakfast [time]. It's really packed in there," Reyes said.

Still, Reyes pointed out that the situation has improved since the construction of the Library Learning Resource Center was completed.

"The fellow students are good, and the people in there are trying [to help]," Reyes said.

Lora Glassman is in her first semester at FC after taking a college couse during high school. She pointed out that during her tour of the campus, the gymnasium lacked in some areas.

"The only place that I found [problems] was the gym. Some places are not accessible, which really bugs me because in order to get an A.A. degree I have to take P.E., so if you can't get to the gym how can you do that?" Glassman said.

Continued...

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