Role of a Dean of Students and filing for accommodations:

 Dana Jansma, as the Associate Dean of Students, works with students who need accommodations, students if they need to withdraw or take medical leave, and students who are struggling for various reasons. “I help support students and get them linked to appropriate resources,” said Jansma. After students file for an accommodation, she works with students on a one-on-one basis, talking through the students’ issues, struggles, and the accommodations they need. Reasonable accommodation depends on the student; a student who broke their leg does not need extra time on a test, but they would need help getting around campus, thus someone driving them to classes may be granted as an accommodation. Jansma also informs the professors of accommodations students require and how they can implement that in the classroom. Professors are not required to know what disability the student has, but it is the responsibility of the student to communicate with their professors on when they will need those accommodations.

Navigating Campus with mobility challenges:

 If an individual has mobility challenges, “this is a very challenging campus because we’re built on a hill. Navigating this campus can be challenging.” The construction of a ramp in the quad would result in the paving of the whole quad, cost thousands of dollars and be very time consuming, “It’s not something that can happen right away, so we have to find ways that work within our existing systems,” said Jansma.

Why are the buildings not accessible?

 The residences are incredibly old, –Trowbridge was built in 1920s– and were built under different regulations – that is why many of the residences and buildings are inaccessible. Adding elevators to these buildings will be extremely costly. Therefore, as Kalamazoo College constructs new residential buildings, elevators will be added to the buildings, and they will be constructed to make them more accessible. A major obstacle in making K more accessible to people with mobility is that the campus is situated on a hill.

Cooperation of other departments:

 Jansma partnered with Alumni Engagement and Facilities Management to buy the wheelchair mat used for events on campus. “I find it easy to work with othe r departments on campus, at the core everyone wants the students to be successful,” said Jansma. Financial challenges are major limitations on making the campus more accessible, especially during college-wide budget cuts.

What to do if you have a complaint:

 If an individual has complaints about the accessibility of the campus, they should contact Tanya Jachimiak, the section 504 coordinator of Kalamazoo College. “There may be remedies and we can do that way quicker, like if the office of civil rights received a complaint, it could be years before they get to it,” said Jansma. “Please come to me, or if a person has general campus concerns, go to Tanya,” added Jansma.

 Fred Watstein, as the Architectual trades coordinator, oversees any changes regarding building on campus. "I'm the hands-on guy for doing anything on campus as far as a building or anything thats not electrical, heating, or cooling that needs to be fixed" said Watstein. Although his position oversees the implementation of accessibility features, he does not have the final say in how the money is spent or what improvements are necessary. "For the number of people we're accommodating we can do extra special things to make it happen for their day, not necesarily across every spot on campus." said Watstein. Although Watstein works to build the necessary accomidations to help K College students, he deferred the decisions made on accessibility to Susan Lindemann, the Associate Vice President for Facilities Management, and any finnancial decisions on accesibility improvement to Lisa VanDeWeert, the Vice President for Business and Finance and Chief Financial Officer.

Challenges to Accessibility:

 Watstein believes the most notable issues to take account of at K College are the old buildings and the hillside campus location. "The big issue here is all of our buildings are very old, they are all ADA compliant within the law, but the law is very forgiving for really old buildings." said Watstein. It was also mentioned in the interview the plans for a new dorm hall are well underway, and will include accessible features. "K is going through a big renovation, building new dorms and all that sort of stuff, so the new dorm of course will be totally compliant and very accessible." said Watstein. One of the hardest challenges to making K more accessible, according to Watstein is the hillside campus. During the interview, Watstein stated "The campus is built into a hillside, essentially, so every floor has a different door. It's challenging, but at K, they're definitely very interested in making it as accessible as possible.

No Ramp During Graduation:

 One of the most pressing issues to students during last year's graduation was K's lack of a ramp during the graduation ceremony. This issue was missed before Watstein started working at K, as he mentioned he "only started in October", however Watstein brought up some decisions in the works for improvement on this issue. "I can tell you that the stage is a big thing right now in the campus on either buying a really cool full-sized setup or building a permanent one, maybe in the quad" said Watstein.

 Tanya Jachimiak oversees the college's disability grievance procedures, and those procedures are a way for students to report concerns about accessibility discrimination based on disability. “I engage with students, faculty, staff, and Disability Services, to engage in an interactive process when concerns are raised, and if we're not able to resolve informally those concerns, then the student has a right to proceed with a more formal complaint and investigation,” said Jachimiak. She is also available to consult with the students about accommodation, how to attain academic adjustments, and she works with Dana Jansma, the Associate Dean of Students, to ensure that students are provided with accommodations.

The Grievance procedure:

 When a student, faculty, or an individual raises a concern regarding the accessibility of campus or other related issues, the person meets with Dana Jansma and Tanya Jachimiak, and other relevant parties, to discuss the issues and resolve them informally. “If the informal process does not work, then we move on to a formal complaint. I would work with that student to put that in writing when filing a grievance. I would do the investigation, if there was a conflict of interest then another person internally would do the investigation,” said Jachimiak.

How would you describe the accessibility of this campus?:

 The physical location is challenging because of the fact that we’re built on a hill, age of buildings, financial implications of removing buildings and rebuilding a building. As we upgrade buildings they will be more accessible than they were when built decades ago. I want to stress that because we have so many challenges because of accessibility, that is why we work closely with students to lower those barriers.