October 1, 2025 • 5 mins
In this episode, editor and Chief, Lily Niebrugge highlights disparities with acsess on campus. She highlights several students and faculty including Associate professor of social work Dana Branson, Junior BA theater major Johnathan Madigan, Junior marine biology major Allora Hawkin, and director of Facilities Management Angela Meyer as part of her coverage.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, Welcome to Erro on the Air. I'm Davis mctagger.
Today we have a news and culture story from Lily Neerbrighi.
Simo's campus is one of steep hills, sprawling staircases, and
closed elevators that can make it tough for students with
disabilities to navigate. Since SEMO is a public institution, they're
required to comply with Students with Disabilities Act, and it's
the Office of Accessibility Services that makes that possible. Lily
(00:20):
spoke with Associate Professor of Social Work doctor Dana Branson
about accessibility on campus.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
So if somebody has a disability issue, be it long
term or short term, I know that you can work
with parking services and they will help you finding much
closer spot to park, even if that means you get
to parking faculty and staff parking for what you need.
I know they will also do that with women who
are pregnant towards the end of their pregnancy when they
(00:46):
really need to be closer to their points of intrigues.
So I know SIMO does everything SEMO can to help students.
Of that, I am confident they truly, truly try to
support students in every way they can.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
She said. The biggest challenges students face in terms of
accessibility are the large number of stairs across campus, and
since the elevator and Brant Hall has closed, students with
mobility issues have fewer options for traversing campus.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
That was the elevator that got them from one side
of the campus to the other side of the campus.
You can still get here, it just means you have
to go.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Way around, and sometimes that means you have to be very,
very strategic in how your classes are set up, because
if you have mobility issues, ten to fifteen minutes might
not be enough time for you to get from Dempster
Hall over to the library.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Lee also spoke with several students with disabilities about mobility
on campus. The first student, Jonathan Madigan, is a theater
major who is visually impaired and uses seeing eye dog
to navigate campus.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
I know I'm gonna be raching out here soon to.
Speaker 5 (01:54):
Somebody on Cemo's I guess campus and whatnot about adding
a rail in two the stairwells near Grant the kind
of curved and there's like a huge jump off right by,
and the railing only starts at the first step, and
it could be a huge hazard, and.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
That's Madigan says he is able to navigate campus relatively
easily because he has memorized the route he takes to
get to all of his classes.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
I'm sure there's some shorter ways to get you one
of the buildings, but I just take the same round
because you know, you know, as someone who's visually paired,
you go by memorization. And of course you can explore,
but we gotta remember a lot of things. And so
once we have that in our.
Speaker 5 (02:37):
Minds or our brains, we talk how to go with that.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Junior Laura Hawkins also reflected our time and crutches on
campus and may mention of how helpful the shuttle drivers were.
Speaker 6 (02:46):
They were very nice about asking, Hey, where do I
need to go, and then would drop me off as
close as they possibly could, Like they wouldn't deviate from
their routes, but they would stop.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
At more specific places to get me to the place that.
Speaker 6 (03:07):
I need to be.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
The final person Lily spoke to was the Director of
Facilities Management, Angela Meyer, who says that facilities management works
very hard to address student mobility issues and detailed recent
upcoming projects that facilities Management has been working on the.
Speaker 6 (03:20):
Challenge that we have is the topography of our campus,
as you know, has a lot of hills and valleys,
and getting from point A to point B without extensive
work can create some problems for us. But we're aware
(03:44):
of the concerns that have been brought to us, and
when they happen, we've started to address them or have
addressed them. And we're always looking for inputs and guidance
from our constituents to ensure that we are meeting all
(04:06):
of our students' needs, not just one one group or another.
And there's always room for improvement in all the work
that we do Acraft campus, So we work very closely
with red Life and Academic Affairs to ensure that we
(04:27):
are meeting the needs of our students.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
She also said she will be repairing the fountain in
front of Kent Library, and we're doing the steps in
front of the building to make it more accessible.
Speaker 6 (04:36):
We are going to be focused on repairing the plumbing
to the existing fountain and replacing stairs and providing a
more gradual slope approach to the library. Versus is right now,
(05:01):
you have a switchback ramp next to the bus stops,
and you have a switchback ramp up next to the building,
right there by the entry, and so we're gonna work
to eliminate those two switchbacks and have a more gradual,
(05:22):
more aesthetic approach to the accessibility on the plaza. And
then with the fountain, it's it's fixing the the piping
and the functionality of the fountain so that we can
have it back up and running again.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
That wraps up this segment of Arrow in the Air
and lively story. I've been your host, Davis mctagger, and
we'll see you next time.
Hello, Welcome to Erro on the Air. I'm Davis mctagger.
Today we have a news and culture story from Lily Neerbrighi.
Simo's campus is one of steep hills, sprawling staircases, and
closed elevators that can make it tough for students with
disabilities to navigate. Since SEMO is a public institution, they're
required to comply with Students with Disabilities Act, and it's
the Office of Accessibility Services that makes that possible. Lily
(00:20):
spoke with Associate Professor of Social Work doctor Dana Branson
about accessibility on campus.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
So if somebody has a disability issue, be it long
term or short term, I know that you can work
with parking services and they will help you finding much
closer spot to park, even if that means you get
to parking faculty and staff parking for what you need.
I know they will also do that with women who
are pregnant towards the end of their pregnancy when they
(00:46):
really need to be closer to their points of intrigues.
So I know SIMO does everything SEMO can to help students.
Of that, I am confident they truly, truly try to
support students in every way they can.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
She said. The biggest challenges students face in terms of
accessibility are the large number of stairs across campus, and
since the elevator and Brant Hall has closed, students with
mobility issues have fewer options for traversing campus.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
That was the elevator that got them from one side
of the campus to the other side of the campus.
You can still get here, it just means you have
to go.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Way around, and sometimes that means you have to be very,
very strategic in how your classes are set up, because
if you have mobility issues, ten to fifteen minutes might
not be enough time for you to get from Dempster
Hall over to the library.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Lee also spoke with several students with disabilities about mobility
on campus. The first student, Jonathan Madigan, is a theater
major who is visually impaired and uses seeing eye dog
to navigate campus.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
I know I'm gonna be raching out here soon to.
Speaker 5 (01:54):
Somebody on Cemo's I guess campus and whatnot about adding
a rail in two the stairwells near Grant the kind
of curved and there's like a huge jump off right by,
and the railing only starts at the first step, and
it could be a huge hazard, and.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
That's Madigan says he is able to navigate campus relatively
easily because he has memorized the route he takes to
get to all of his classes.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
I'm sure there's some shorter ways to get you one
of the buildings, but I just take the same round
because you know, you know, as someone who's visually paired,
you go by memorization. And of course you can explore,
but we gotta remember a lot of things. And so
once we have that in our.
Speaker 5 (02:37):
Minds or our brains, we talk how to go with that.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Junior Laura Hawkins also reflected our time and crutches on
campus and may mention of how helpful the shuttle drivers were.
Speaker 6 (02:46):
They were very nice about asking, Hey, where do I
need to go, and then would drop me off as
close as they possibly could, Like they wouldn't deviate from
their routes, but they would stop.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
At more specific places to get me to the place that.
Speaker 6 (03:07):
I need to be.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
The final person Lily spoke to was the Director of
Facilities Management, Angela Meyer, who says that facilities management works
very hard to address student mobility issues and detailed recent
upcoming projects that facilities Management has been working on the.
Speaker 6 (03:20):
Challenge that we have is the topography of our campus,
as you know, has a lot of hills and valleys,
and getting from point A to point B without extensive
work can create some problems for us. But we're aware
(03:44):
of the concerns that have been brought to us, and
when they happen, we've started to address them or have
addressed them. And we're always looking for inputs and guidance
from our constituents to ensure that we are meeting all
(04:06):
of our students' needs, not just one one group or another.
And there's always room for improvement in all the work
that we do Acraft campus, So we work very closely
with red Life and Academic Affairs to ensure that we
(04:27):
are meeting the needs of our students.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
She also said she will be repairing the fountain in
front of Kent Library, and we're doing the steps in
front of the building to make it more accessible.
Speaker 6 (04:36):
We are going to be focused on repairing the plumbing
to the existing fountain and replacing stairs and providing a
more gradual slope approach to the library. Versus is right now,
(05:01):
you have a switchback ramp next to the bus stops,
and you have a switchback ramp up next to the building,
right there by the entry, and so we're gonna work
to eliminate those two switchbacks and have a more gradual,
(05:22):
more aesthetic approach to the accessibility on the plaza. And
then with the fountain, it's it's fixing the the piping
and the functionality of the fountain so that we can
have it back up and running again.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
That wraps up this segment of Arrow in the Air
and lively story. I've been your host, Davis mctagger, and
we'll see you next time.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!