Hypocrisy at its Finest: Taking Safety on Campus Seriously

The fourth of December will mark one year from the day my friend and I were trapped on the sixth floor of Wilson Library at Western Washington University during a fire that broke out on the second floor. Fortunately, it was small, but the safety of both my friend and I was put in jeopardy. The building that we were in was, and still is, not up to code. The floor warden was uninformed about what to do with two people, who could not flee the building, during the fire, and to my knowledge, there is still yet to be a written and distributed plan (I was told that I would receive the plan by the first of March -- over eight months ago -- but I never did). I addressed the potential tragedy that a fire, and lack of prevention could cause, with the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) a year prior to this incident, and then e-mailed OCR within a couple hours after the fire. Even though the OCR seemed to care about the safety of students with disabilities, I do not feel as if WWU took our safety seriously. 

So, last Tuesday, when President Shepard addressed the community about the safety of students of color on campus and canceled classes, I felt compelled to address the population of Facebook with the hypocrisy that I have experienced first hand when it comes to WWU's and President Shepard''s beliefs and actions. Here is the post that I shared that day. 

"Today, President Shepard suspended classes at WWU due to hate speech directed towards students of color; he is concerned with the safety of students on campus, and wants people to pause in order to take the time and unite. This is quite noble of him to take a stand for his students of color, and express the concern for their safety, but when it comes to the safety of disabled students, President Shepard's stance does not even come close to reflecting the same compassion. Every day that I attended classes or an event on WWU's campus that involved me using an elevator, I always had a concern for my safety. I have a concern for the safety of all students with disabilities who attend WWU as well. This is due to the fact that not all of WWU's buildings are up to code nor do they have a fire safety plan implemented in order to keep students with disabilities as safe as possible if there happens to be an emergency (such as a fire or an earthquake). Three years ago, when I had a class on the fifth floor of Old Main, I addressed this issue with the DisAbility Resources for Students. Since there was not an accessible safety zone, I did not feel safe in the classroom that my history class had been assigned, so I requested that my class be moved. Nothing happened. Two years ago, I took this concern -- along with others -- to the Office of Civil Rights on campus. I had the opportunity to meet with one of WWU's six Vice Presidents and express my concerns to her as well. The DRS began doing everything I asked, but for all other physically disabled students, nothing happened.

Then, last December, a friend and I attended a book fair on the sixth floor of Wilson Library. Long story short, we were both trapped there for ten minutes with the belief that the building could be burning down; we were stuck in a smoky building, that is not up to code and staffed with an uninformed and panicked floor warden that had no idea what the protocol was when it came to disabled students who could not flee the building during a fire. Fortunately, the fire was small, and was put out quickly; however, the fire department was called off due to the fire being small, but my friend and I were not informed of this nor was the fire department told that there were people trapped in the building. For those ten minutes, I felt extremely unsafe! I contacted the OCR and the Vice President, they did not contact me; I had to reach out to them, they did not reach out to me. When I expressed my concerns about the safety of all students on WWU's campus, the VP reassured me that the safety of all their students was their number one priority.

Today, WWU's concern for the safety of their students has been expressed for persons of color, but a resolution has still yet to come to fruition when it comes to persons with disabilities. I never received a statement from President Shepard stating that the safety of students with disabilities on campus matter; he never said he personally would make sure that all the buildings would be brought up to code, and that a plan
would be made in case of an emergency. If WWU is concerned about the safety of all their students, then this should include the safety for their disabled students as well. So, Western Washington University, please do not forget about your physically disabled students who cannot flee a building during an emergency; even though there may just be eight or nine of us, our safety and lives matter too!"

Since this post on Facebook, the student responsible for the hate speech has been arrested. However, it has been a year since I have dealt with feeling unsafe on campus, and nothing has been accomplished. Yesterday, I was on campus visiting a friend. I just so happened to pass the Communications building as the fire alarm began to sound. I had the opportunity to speak to the person in charge of coordinating fire drills and other safety evacuation plans. This lady never sat in on the Fire Safety Committee that I was apart of, nor seems to care about the safety of disabled students. To every single question I asked her, she responded with an excuse. I asked her if there really was a plan the day that I was stuck in the library, she said yes. So, I asked her why the floor warden told us she did not know what to do. Her answer was that the floor warden did what she was supposed to do (really?! Not knowing what to do, was what she was supposed to do?). I asked her why the fire department was called off, but we were not told that we were not really in danger. I also said that even if the fire is taken care of, the fire department is still supposed to check on anyone who is trapped in the building. She said that the people sweeping the building did not know we where there. How did they not know we were there?  I asked how then could they call off the fire department if they had not swept the entire building. We were in the fire safety zone WHERE WE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE. So, why did they not know we were there? I told her that I was most disappointed with the lack of communication. She said at least five times that they were trying. 

TRYING? Would this have been an acceptable response to the girl who felt threatened by hate speech posted on social media? She claimed that WWU and the police were not doing enough; President Shepard canceled classes, an investigation was going on, and right after she said this, the guy responsible was arrested. Is a potential threat floating around in cyber space really more dangerous than an actual threat of being caught in a burning building?

If you would like more information about the incident that occurred last December, please check out my blog post from December 14, 2014, "In Like a Lamb, Out Like a Lion: Final Fall Quarter Review".