[In these minutes: Rec Center Accessibility; Information Technology Guidelines; Updates on Facilities Management, Parking, Course Offerings, Health Sciences Accessibility, Umbrella Committee Proposal]

PRESENT: James Carey (chair), Deborah Brown, Harvey Carlson, William Durfee, Dave Fuecker, Virgil Mathiowetz, Vicki Nelson, Amanda Perlman, Julie Sweitzer, Jessica Voigts, Kimerly Wilcox

REGRETS: Paula Knutzen, Barbara Leonard, Elizabeth Lightfoot, Suann Mitchell, Ken Myers, Joe Reichle, David Wuolu

GUESTS: Gene Chelberg

OTHERS: NONE

[These minutes reflect discussion and debate at a meeting of a committee of the University of Minnesota Senate or Twin Cities Campus Assembly; none of the comments, conclusions, or actions reported in these minutes reflect the views of, nor are they binding on, the Senate or Assembly, the Administration, or the Board of Regents.]

1. Approval of December 6, 1999 Minutes: The minutes were approved as presented.

2. Rec Center Discussion ó Dave Fuecker

Dave Fuecker updated the committee on the Rec Center project:

• Disability Services initiated discussions with the Rec Center to focus upon facility usage by disabled individuals and to eliminate environmental barriers.
• Sue Lasoff conducted a site audit and prioritized the existing environmental barriers.
• The St. Paul Gym and the Rec Center are fairly accessible.
• A TTY has yet to be installed in the Rec Center.
• Much discussion has been centered around making the various programs more accessible.
• The main issue still to be considered is how to bolster usage by disabled individuals.
• The largest barrier is transportation to and from the facilities.
• A brochure has been produced in order to provide more information to people.

• It has not been considered if it would be beneficial to quantify the usage of people with disabilities to show utilization rates.
• It is not known how many disabled individuals are currently using the facilities.
• The Rec Center conducts an annual survey and questions about disabilities should be included if there are none on it now.
• Disabled individuals should have a way to express concern with existing barriers so those not already under consideration can be considered.
• Meters that are currently available near the Rec Center will be eliminated this spring because construction of a new ramp will begin.
• The lot that was also available has been turned into contract parking so that is no longer available.
• It will be difficult for people to access the Disability Services Office, that is now located in the Gateway Building, without adequate handicap parking.
• The parking situation is much better near the St. Paul Gym because there is no construction and adequate meters are available.
• The Rec Center has a website, but it is not certain if it contains information on disability access.
• Collecting utilization rates is unclear if the purpose of the project is to make people aware of the accommodations that have been made for disabled individuals.
• Considering the utilization rate would clarify how successful exposure has been.
• The Disabled Student Cultural Center (DSCC) has tried to fund adaptive health videos and sports teams, but it has not been successful.
• Rec Sports should sponsor a local team with members with disabilities that could conduct a workshop on how to participate in such events.
• The Courage Center should be contacted because they focus upon athletics for individuals with disabilities.
• The University of Alberta rec center contains a facility that holds specialized equipment for individuals with disabilities.
• The Rec Center should contact other rec centers, such as the University of Illionis at Urbana-Champagne, that have been successful in integrating their equipment.
• The Rec Center and Courage Center should be contacted about sponsoring modified bike races.

Gene Chelberg informed the committee of the work between Disability Services and the Office of Information Technology:

• The two offices are involved in a joint effort known as the "Computer Accommodations Program."
• The main focus has been upon locations for students with disabilities to access technology using adaptive tech.
• The libraries have been generous with creating reading rooms for placing adaptive equipment.
• An adaptive technology trailer has been constructed to hold equipment while Walter Library is under renovation.
• There is a lab in 124 Elliott Hall and a new lab is available in the Disability Services Office, which recently moved to the Gateway Building.
• Each lab holds three PCs, one Mac, a printer, scanner, Braille embosser, voice synthesizer and screen-reader packages, and screen-enlarger software.
• The reading rooms in the libraries are not staffed so there are always security issues.
• The program also works on implementing adaptive equipment at individual work stations.
• There is a web site (cap.umn.edu) that describes the labs and links to help files and vendors of the available equipment.
• The web site also contains extensive guidelines on developing accessible web pages.
• Training has taken place with the Communicatorís Forum and similar groups around campus about common issues and ways to avoid barriers when developing web pages.
• Julie Sweitzer, Disability Services, and OIT contracted a company to identify barriers on the web and those responsible for developing the flagged sites were brought together to decide how to improve them.
• The administration has agreed that a policy on web publishing should be developed.
• The only part of the policy that is currently available are guidelines that can be found on the programís website.

• The committee can assist with this project by building awareness of the program through communication with the Senate.
• The California Community College Distance Education Department has extensive guidelines for making programs accessible.
• Information from other institutions should be gathered to determine if there are any policies or guidelines in place.
• There should be a way to identify grants that are used for technology initiatives to alert developers of the guidelines and training.
• A building code is needed for information technology, which is what has been under development.
• The United States Access Board has issued guidelines similar to those offered by World Wide Web Access.
• The Americanís With Disabilities Act has also been considered in terms of access to the web.
• The committee should draft a memo to include a notice in all campus publications that alerts the community to the resources and why it is important to be compliant.
• The Board of Regents Faculty, Staff, and Student Affairs Committee will hear a presentation from Disability Services at its March meeting.
• The theme for the Regents meeting is Universal Design and the focus will be based upon physical, information, curriculum, and workplace access.
• Mr. Chelberg and Ms. Perlman will draft a letter to the Board by its March meeting that voices the committeeís support of the Universal Design concept.
• Departments and groups know there are accessibility issues, but they do not know how to eliminate the barriers.
• The St. Paul Campus has implemented accessible stations in individual labs and all of the computers in the PC lab in McNeal Hall have zoom text.
• Any policy that is developed would be system-wide and affect all campuses.

Facilities Management ó William Durfee

• The goal of this project is to include a statement about accessibility in the general stipulations document that is distributed to architects when seeking bids for construction projects.
• The bids that have been submitted have not addressed accessibility.
• The Board will be made aware of this issue at their March meeting and hopefully it will finally be implemented.
• The Planning department would create the language to incorporate into the stipulations document.
• The committee could draft a resolution that voices their support for the Universal Design concept and urge the University to follow its parameters.
• Eric Kruse is ultimately responsible for implementing the accessibility guidelines so he should be invited to a meeting to discuss the topic with the committee.

• The University Avenue Ramp will open in December, the St. Paul Ramp will open in the fall, and the East River Road Garage will not be available until the fall of 2001.
• A tunnel and skyway system will eventually connect the University Avenue Ramp to the health sciences area.
• All of the construction around campus does not allow for additional spaces to be added, even if they are only temporary.
• The paratransit service is going well, except that the second bus will not be available beginning in March because funding is not available.
• It is difficult for those employees who use the paratransit services when the services are not available during class breaks.
• Even if utilization rates are collected and it is determined that there is a need for the service at all times, funding is still an issue.
• The committee should determine if there is a way to influence the budget process so funding for the paratransit project can continue and/or be increased to provide more coverage.
• Parking and Transportation currently does not receive central funds, but that does not mean none can ever be provided.

• The group wants to survey those who are teaching courses that fulfill the diversity core requirement to see how many classes actually consider disability issues.
• The group is also interested in developing a disability course, but has discovered that one has already been taught and others are in development.
• More disability issues courses have not been taught because it is difficult to find people to teach them.
• The group has yet to look into having the equal opportunity phrase include reference to disabilities.

• The biggest problem noted by health sciences departments is getting people from the ramp to the buildings.
• There are maps available in the ramp and staff sometimes assist patients to and from the ramp.
• The ramp is usually full or over-sized vehicles cannot access the ramp.
• Handicap parking in the health sciences area is a chronic problem.
• The new Cell Biology Building is not slated to have additional handicap parking spaces.
• The parking representative working on the new building will contact the committee if it can provide a letter of support to have spaces added.
• The cart service cannot access some clinics due to structural problems.
• The Mayo Garage is contract-only parking, but a handicap space has been offered and declined for parking nearer to the facilities.

• The Diversity Discussion Group met after receiving memos from the Disabilities Issues Committee and the Equal Employment Opportunity for Women Committee (EEOWC).
• The EEOWC endorsed the proposal while this committee did not.
• The subcommittees would not have access to administrative support under the proposed structure.
• The proposal, along with both position statements, will be presented to the Senate Consultative Committee (SCC) and then it will go before the University Senate.
• Professor Carey will attend the April 20 Senate meeting to present the position of the committee.

• The committee is working on many issues that may not be addressed under the proposed structure because it will not receive the same administrative support.
• There are other options for a new structure that should be considered since the committee is not confident with the one that is proposed.
• Coordinate campus and student representation in the current and proposed structure is not adequate and still needs to be addressed.
• If the various constituencies are important enough to have representation, then they should receive adequate support.

Teleconference Reminder

• The Teleconference co-sponsored by Disability Services and General College is scheduled to take place on March 13 from 12:30 to 2:30 in the Earl Brown Center.
• The teleconference is entitled "Emerging Disabilities on Campus: What You Need to Know."
• Seating is limited so please contact Professor Carlson to reserve your spot.