By The Gettysburgian Editorial Board
Gettysburg College is an institution steeped in the past. While our presence here ties our lives to the college’s rich 19th century history, it is important that our 21st century challenges are met with modern infrastructure. Today’s Gettysburgians, unlike those who first wore that title, are a varied group.
That is why we believe Gettysburg College should substantially improve the support it provides to students with physical and intellectual challenges by establishing an Office of Student Accessibility. Currently, the Office of Academic Advising and Student Support Services is tasked with handling all accommodation requests for those who require adapted learning or specific housing conditions. While the services provided by Academic Advising are not completely deficient in meeting accommodations, limited resources and personnel leave much room for improvement. Creating an Office of Student Accessibility, much like those found at Dickinson College and Franklin & Marshall College, would allow students to work with employees who possess the resources to fully focus on their needs.
To us, it is clear that there should not be buildings on this campus that are inaccessible to people with physical handicaps. The college’s own website admits that some, but not all, housing options are wheelchair accessible. While buildings like Huber can more easily accommodate students using a wheelchair, others—like Hanson—are completely inaccessible. Gettysburg College should not look merely to comply with the standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act but make a conscious effort to comfortably accommodate students who depend on that infrastructure.
The under-resourced status quo places limits on both the quantity and quality of the support that we provide. In many instances, the current system fails to extend support beyond bare-bones requirements. For example, the college’s Handbook for Students with Disabilities makes it clear that the college will not “provide assessment or documentation for students with suspected disabilities”—ignoring a responsibility to students whose learning challenges may have gone previously unnoticed.
Neither those currently enrolled or considering Gettysburg College should be disheartened by structures (both literal and conceptual) that do not have them in mind. Gettysburg’s small class sizes and easily traversable campus has a lot to offer students with physical and intellectual challenges. Creating, and sufficiently funding, an Office of Student Accessibility would help those students better access a campus experience whose social dynamics can already be a massive hurdle. Gettysburg College should be able to support all types of people—not just those whose profile matches its founders.
Although the College has made progress in improving diversity in the student population, we feel that it should also make a concerted effort to incorporate greater diversity into the curriculum. While cultural diversity course requirements are pointed in the right direction, diverse coursework should be more than a box on a curriculum checklist. Faculty of color should not have to be relied upon as the only sources of diverse teaching. To ensure that our curriculum prepares us for what the world really looks and thinks like, we should aim to incorporate more non-Eurocentric materials into courses across all fields of study. By diversifying our sources of intellectual study, we can extend student understandings beyond the rigid bounds of an overwhelmingly white and upper middle class framework.
We believe that the College should better support not only those who have traditionally comprised it, but both the people and ideas that have greatly expanded what it means to be a Gettysburgian.
This article originally appeared on page 21 of the December 6, 2021 edition of The Gettysburgian’s magazine
