Student Senate walks out of their meeting

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By: Jaimie Albright

Editor-in-Chief

&

Angela Scipione

News Editor

Disability activists in Albany have a message for legislators: “Equal access is a right. Fight, fight, fight!”

On Monday, Feb. 11, student senators met in Albany to unite with the Not A Bit of Difference club in support for students with disabilities.

The event advocated for more funding and better resources.

“The Senate meeting can always be rescheduled at any time,” Ali Cheema, Student Senate Vice President and engineering science major, said. “As senators and students of [Hudson Valley Community College,] we can’t afford to miss out on these opportunities where funding of thousands of students with disabilities is at stake,” he said. “It’s necessary for us to make sure that [Hudson Valley Community College] is always represented at statewide events and issues.”

Charmaine Townsell, University Coordinator of Student Activities at CUNY, welcomed attendees to the first Disability Action Day in New York.

“There’s never, ever been before a gathering of student leaders with disabilities from across the state, at the same time, in the same place, with the same goal: to improve access and opportunity for students with disabilities,” she said.

Townsell encouraged attendees to make noise for their cause. “Today we are starting a revolution,” she said.

She declared that history takes leadership and student leaders who participated in the rally were there to initiate it.

Two student leaders, Haris Khan, Chairperson of the University Student Senate of CUNY, and Austin Ostro, Student Assembly Vice President, commented on the importance of the event and the progress it will drive.

“People in power often ignore student voices,” Khan said. “We’re here today to show them what real care means.”

Khan promoted fully funding disability services that are serving New York State students every day.

“It is an injustice that after so many decades of the ADA passage we’re still fighting for these rights,” Khan said. “It doesn’t just end at funding disability services; our campuses need capital money to make sure every building is accessible to every single student,” he said. “All that work starts right here today.”

Ostro spoke about the specifics of the mission for more resources on college campuses.

“Our infrastructure on our campuses only partially complies with the ADA and only partially meets the needs of students,” Ostro said. “We need the investment in infrastructure in order to make sure that every student can thrive in a campus environment.”

The SUNY Student Assembly is also committed to fighting for added funding for mental health resources.

According to Ostro, one of those health services would be a telecounseling initiative which matches students in rural parts of New York state with psychiatric providers. This would ensure they can get the care they need in order to complete their program if a provider is unavailable in their community.

Ostro emphasized reaching out to leaders in the community to make their voices heard.

“We want to champion your cause,” he said. “We want to make sure that no student goes without and that every student feels they have a place on a SUNY or CUNY campus.”

Catherine Carlson, President of the NYS Disabilities Services Council, shed light on the disconnection between high school and college level funding.

“Funding at the high school level has given [students] better success and completion rates in moving forward,” she said. “But the investment in the services to make sure that they are successful and to ensure their inclusion has not followed suit.”

More than 73,000 students with disabilities are registered and enrolled in New York state campuses, according to Carlson. “When creating learning environments and learning materials, we need to consider students with disabilities,” she said.

The Advisory Council on Higher Education for Students with Disabilities suggested an increase in funding. They request $15 million, directly out of the higher education line of the state budget. It would supplement any funding that they currently have.

The money would be spent on training faculty on universal design, considering learning materials and designing [the college environment] to be accessible to all people.

Carlson stated that the end goal of the rally is to give students more opportunities after their schooling has ended.

“[It will allow us to] promote their success,” she said. “We can open up employment doors for them and they can be productive members of society.”

DeAnne Martocci, Director of Center for Access and Assistive Technology, addressed the work that comes after initial support for change.

“The plan after today is to meet with our various legislators from our area to discuss how important including this funding in the New York State budget is,” Martocci said. “If we manage to get in the NYS budget we will be the first in the nation with this type of funding.”

Hudson Valley Community College plans to take action in the fight for change.

“The Not a Bit of Difference Club, with the help of our Student Senate, will likely plan to meet with our area representatives to further push for our cause,” Martocci said.

#funddisabilityservicesny