This fall quarter marks my second to last quarter as an undergrad student at Western Washington University; three months from now, I will graduate with a degree in Political Science. This quarter started out well; it was entirely uneventful, and just full of studies. I liked this a lot in; I felt like a typical student. I did however have to meet with the Disability Resources for Students (DRS), and get my paperwork to deliver to my professors, then get my professors to sign one copy and return it to the DRS (just like every previous quarter). However, I was able to make my appointment with my counselor in the DRS by e-mail at the end of summer vacation. I also did not have to ask for the DRS to hire my notetakers, they just did it. Another impressive thing is, my counselor looked up my class schedule, to make sure I could access each classroom, and she looked up my book list, so I would not have to send it to her. This cut out a couple simple things, but they are things that most students on campus do not have to do, and by the DRS doing these things (which is why they are paid -- to assist and provide resources for students), it freed me up to focus on my classes and my studies, just like any other student.
There are, however, two things that happened this quarter that have created an inconvenience. There are less and less handicap spots available on WWU's campus due to how many people are in need compared to how many spots that are provided. On top of that, there were several people (all with handicap placards) that would park in the large handicap spots. They can still walk and just need a close spot, not room to lower their ramp. One of these ladies was even quite rude to my mom when picking me up; Mom parked in what the lady considered "her" spot. To top it all off, I witnessed a campus cop parked in a handicap spot! They do not need this spot and they are supposed to be punishing people who illegally park in these spots -- yet, they park in the handicap spot because they can. Oh, the irony! The other thing that happened was I had a class on the fourth floor of Old Main and after class I went to the elevator and it did not come and did not come -- I was trapped on the fourth floor. There was not a sign indicating that the elevator was broken or being worked on. I really had to use the bathroom and the only handicap accessible bathroom in Old Main is on the first floor. I also had another class to get to. The elevator fortunately was not broken; it turned out that the lights had burned out and maintenance was fixing that problem. It would have been nice to know that when I got to the elevator and discovered it to not be working; a simple sign would do.
About four weeks into the quarter, I entered the DRS for my first test, I was relieved to find out that I was being provided a scribe. I had asked for one earlier in the year and was a little skeptical if I would actually receive one. I was also excited to find that the scribe that had been hired for my first test was a friend that I had met at Camp Promise-West (CPW) over the summer; she was an employee at Camp Stand By Me where CPW is located. A friendly face makes taking a test so much nicer. I also was thankful that I did not have to write myself as this is getting harder for me to do, and it is extremely difficult for people to read my chicken scratch.
When I entered the DRS, I also noticed that the person who has taken over the position of organizing and distributing tests likes to stand while working. This is not a problem; I understand that some people are more comfortable this way, which is totally fine. However, he does not just have a work desk that he stands at; his entire work station is adjusted to his height. He is about 6'2", which is not a problem either, but when there are multiple people who are in wheelchairs (and some of us with limited arm strength) want to interact with the test guy, we have to look up and over his test station. It is difficult to hand him papers, and to turn in our tests. The drop box that we place our tests in is at least a foot OVER my head. This was not thought through very well; the DRS should be just as accommodating to the students who employ them as they are for their employees. It would be great to be able to turn in my own test and access the independence the DRS is supposedly helping us obtain.
Fast forward to my next test, the DRS did not hire a scribe for me even though I had specifically asked for a scribe for every test. However, I let it slide. Then the next test - again, no scribe. I decided I needed to e-mail my counselor and explain to her that it was difficult for me to write out the answers to the two tests that I did not have scribes for and would really appreciate it if they could hire me a scribe for each of my finals. She told me that she would put my finals on the list.
When I arrived for my first final, the test guy proclaimed that I had just been put on the scribe list and that he would find me one. He pulled a student, who worked in the DRS away from his typical duties and had him scribe for me. I had asked in plenty of time to have a scribe, once in the summer and once again after midterms which is over their five days in advance policy, and my name just appeared on the scribe list the morning of my final? Either there was a miscommunication error that happened somewhere between my request and what the test guy was informed, or he just forgot to hire a scribe for me. I hope that the student that scribed for me is a paid DRS employee, and if he is not, he better be paid for being my scribe. He did a really good job, and if the test guy had not made his comment, I probably would not have ever known that he was not a hired scribe. My next final went smoothly in that the test was there and a scribe had been hired. The only downfall was that every time I have an 8:00am final, I have to get there at least twenty minutes early because a line quickly forms outside the DRS. DRS personnel did not open their doors until after 8:00am and almost every student who had an 8:00am final on that day was piled up outside the locked DRS in the hallway. It took about fifteen minutes after they arrived and opened the doors for me to start my test. Thus, from the time I arrived, I waited for over a half an hour to receive my test, and this is the way it is every time I have an 8:00am final. If I were to get there at 8:00am (which I did the very first 8:00am final I had), I would wait for my test even longer and start my test even later; this is not acceptable! To top it off, I had a second final that day. If I had not arrived early, I would not have had enough time to complete one test before the second was to begin. There needs to be a better system that is more courteous to the students who are taking their finals. Students who take their final in the classroom do not have to arrive early, just to try to be able to start their test on time. Students who take their test in the classroom do not have to stand around and wait ten to forty minutes past the start time of the test to receive their test. This builds anxiety and is not respecting the students and the fact that most students just want their finals to be over with; this should not be extended by the lack of efficiency by the DRS. Over half the students who take their final through the DRS do not even take their final in the DRS. However, they all show up to the DRS, stand in line, and then are sent across campus to the Multipurpose room. Why is this happening? This bogs down the DRS, but it also is quite cumbersome to the student who just stood in one line, just to turn around and walk somewhere else, to end up standing in another line just to receive their test! For my last final, I arrived a couple minutes early as less students were taking a final at this time. When I approached the front of the line the test proctor realized that my professor had yet to send my exam. He e-mailed, Instant Messaged, and had a student employee call my professor. She did not answer. I suggested to the student employee that he call the Political Science office; when the student did, the Political Science office explained that they did not know where my professor was. My professor was not in a classroom because I had to switch my final exam time due to having two exams in a row and wanting the extended time for my first exam. However, my professor did have to proctor another final at 3:30pm so I assured she was on campus. The student employee ran across campus to my professor's office to find her with her feet up on her desk. She said that she was not answering her phone or e-mails as she was grading exams. I am thankful for the student who found my professor and had her send my test to the DRS; however, the DRS did not do its job. They need to make sure that all tests are delivered before the student who is to take that test arrives.
While my professor was negligent in not sending my exam, the DRS was even more neglectful as they should have made sure my test had arrived before my exam time. This lack of organization has occurred multiple times for me alone and causes anxiety and unnecessary stress during finals. The DRS should require professors to turn in their exam by the Friday of dead week and could easily put together an e-mail reminder for professors. (This would ensure the DRS can access the test as some professors may only be on campus during their scheduled final time and unreachable. I was fortunate; as I explained above, my final time had changed to provided extended time and my professor could have left campus for winter break had she not had a final later that day). The DRS would then be able to print out tests the day before and put them in envelopes with each student's name on the envelope. When the student arrives, they are handed their test creating an efficient and expedient system that allows for quick transition into testing. This is simple and common sense.
So the whole lack of efficiency with regards to test taking in the DRS is small compared to what happened during Dead Week. At the end of every Fall Quarter Dead Week, a children's book fair is held on the sixth floor of Wilson Library. I love to go browse through all the books and purchase some books for my sister who is an aspiring kindergarten teacher. This year I went to the book fair with my friend who is also in a wheelchair. About ten minutes after arriving at the book fair, the fire alarm went off. At first I just dismissed it as I have been stuck in buildings during fire drills before (as a person in a wheelchair, I cannot flee a building when the fire alarm begins to wail). However, I was quickly informed by the smell of smoke and library staff personnel that this was not a drill, that there was a fire and that both my friend and I were to remain in the fire safety zone. In questioning the staff, I found that they did not know what to do with a person who could not exit the building; all they told us was to stay in the "safety zone". We stayed in the cement cell for about ten minutes before the alarm subsided and people began to return to the sixth floor. I was told that brownies had caught fire on the second floor. This was a little confusing to me as smoke (however, not burnt chocolate smelling smoke) had made it to the sixth floor. I did not realize that burnt brownies made that much stinky smoke. I also figured out that the fire department did not show; I was told they had not been called as they had to sweep the building before calling to make sure there was actually a fire. If the fire department is not called right away (or not called at all), the fire safety zones DO NOT work. It took over ten minutes for someone to inform me that the fire was just burt brownies. So if it took them ten minutes to find the culprit of the smoke and screeching fire alarm before calling the fire department, then by that time, the whole building could be up in flames.
That night, I e-mailed the OCR and the vice president (VP) to address my concerns. I wrote how I am disappointed with how the situation was handled due to the lack of training. I also questioned the response that I had received last year when I had addressed the fire safety plan on campus. The head of the DRS (at the time) informed me that there was a fire safety plan and I could come to his office at any time and look over it. The library staff had never been told of any such plan, so either it does not actually exist, or if it does, there is a huge communication disjoint at WWU. I also brought to the VP's and OCR's attention that the head of the DRS (now) was at the same book fair when the fire alarm sounded. She did not address me, nor did she inform the library floor warden what to do; she was right there and and she left. I did not expect her to stay for the entire duration of us being stuck in the fire safety zone, but it would have been a little more reassuring if she would have addressed me or passed on some pertinent information that had not been previously passed along to the library staff. She is the head of the Resources for Disabled Students. I am a disabled student and she was lacking resources at a crucial time and she left me, as well as my friend and the library staff, hanging. I know that during a fire it is not the time to address the escape plan -- it should have been set up way before hand -- but in this situation, it had not. So, it seemed like the best time to come up with a plan (or pass on the one that had been supposedly written). I also informed the VP and OCR that I do not feel safe on campus, and that this is a liability that they need to fix. I did receive an e-mail from the VP and she reassured me that the safety of the students is WWU's number one priority. I question this, but I hope that she is serious this time. I do not want a fire worse than the one that occurred in Wilson to happen without an actual plan in place (I rather a fire not happen at all, but in case of such an unfortunate event, there needs to be a well known plan).
My urgency in solving this problem earned me a meeting with an OCR personnel. I met with her last Wednesday, and she told me that they (WWU) had messed up. She believed that the supposed plan had been implemented and passed along to all employees that needed to know this plan. We brainstormed solutions to the problem at hand. I brought up that all students who cannot exit the building in the event of a fire should be able to have all their classes on a floor with the access to the outside. She brought up that all floor wardens will be taught what to do with regards to someone not being able to exit a building in the event of a fire. I also brought up that all floor wardens should know if a student who cannot exit the building has a class on their floor. She mentioned the problem of how the fire safety zones are not clearly labeled and not easily found. This is not acceptable as a person who cannot exit the building needs to be able to find this zone as soon as possible in order to get away from the smoke and to be found by the firemen. I also brought up that not all the fire safety zones on campus are up to code (or if they did pass, they are still not safe). All safety zones are legally supposed to have a two way phone. The one that I was stuck in (in Wilson Library) does not have one. They are also supposed to be either fire proof for up to an hour or have a sprinkler inside. The one in Wilson does not have a sprinkler, but I have been informed that it is fire proof for up to an hour. There are other building on campus lacking in a safety zone altogether. Some have two way phones, but they are not in an enclosed area; they are just hanging in the hall exposed to the elements. Smoke would fill the area within seconds and then it would be too late. If safety is WWU's number one priority, then why are they not following legal protocol in order to have the safest campus possible for ALL students?
While I was meeting with OCR, I was informed that the information about the fire department not being called was incorrect. The OCR lady told me that when the fire alarm is triggered, the fire department is automatically called. However, the fire department was called off. My question is why were they so quickly called off if it took over ten minutes for my friend and I to be informed that all was clear, that someone had just burned brownies on the second floor?
The fire station is located about six blocks from campus and then there are two more stations located within three minutes of campus. There is no way that the fire department would respond in less than five minutes. This means that the fire department would have had to be called off within minutes of the fire alarm being sounded. This also means that either someone called off the fire department prematurely, hoping that the reason that the fire alarm set off was not major, or they did find and deal with the source right away and did not inform us that the fire was not a big deal! Instead we had to wait up there, thinking the building may be on fire, but with the understanding that the fire department was on there way, so when they did not come and ten minutes passed and they still had not come, I was filled with questions. Where were they? Had they not been called? Are they here and just have not found us yet?
I have been told two different stories about why the fire department did not show to this event. But either way, the fire department did not show due to WWU's actions (either not calling or calling off the fire department), and both my friend and I were trapped in a small cement bunker for about ten minutes thinking that there was a possibility the building may be on fire. During my time in the fire safety zone I did not feel safe and I do not feel as if I was respected. I knew I was potentially in danger, and no one informed me otherwise. I have talked to the Whatcom County Fire Marshall (he is a family friend), and he is getting me the report of what actually happened so I know if the fire department was called, and if they were called, how fast they were called off.
This whole situation is unacceptable; protocol is not being followed. I am not upset that I could not exit the building, I chose to go to the sixth floor and with that comes consequences due to my necessity of elevators. I cannot not do things just because they are on an upper floor and I cannot exit the building in a fire on my own (I would miss out on a lot -- the world is built not just horizontal, but vertical as well). I am thankful for elevators, they give me the freedom to access so many places that I would not be able to go without them, but once the fire alarm sounds, I am no longer able to utilize them as they have morphed into a hazardous trap. This is why there needs to be a safety zone and there needs to be a plan; these areas need to be very visible, up to code and people involved need to know the plan. I do not understand why a potentially tragic situation has to occur before something gets done. I addressed this issue beforehand and nothing beneficial happened. But now that a civil suit could occur, they are scrambling to pull something together. I am just glad that this event happened in the way that it did; it did not end tragic but is opening eyes to the possibility of what could have happened. This hopefully will push things foreword and a plan will actually be implemented this time.
There needs to be better communication at WWU, before and during events like the one I experienced. The safety zones need to brought up to code and WWU needs to live up to their standard of making the safety of all students their number one priority; they need to do so before something tragic actually occurs.
