By: Nyah Jackson
On April 8, the Southern Accent reported that Student Association (SA) senators voted to spend $100,000 on installing automatic doors and renovating a university-owned van to accommodate students on campus. However, those actions have not materialized in the way that students hoped.
“It’s not accessible,” Heidi Burke, a junior history major, said about Southern’s campus. According to Burke, being a student in a wheelchair is difficult due to a lack of automatic doors on campus.
“Oftentimes, I’m carrying papers or carrying a textbook…so I have to sit outside my actual home department, just hoping some people would show up and open the door for me, which is really frustrating,” said Burke.
To increase accessibility, senators Amy Van Arsdell and Nema Ogal proposed the Accessibility Initiative last school year. According to the Senate minutes taken on March 26, 2025, the initiative’s goal was for Southern to purchase a wheelchair accessible van and install more automatic doors using SA’s contingency fund of $240,000. SA donated $100,000 towards the Accessibility Initiative. The cost breakdown states that retrofitting a Southern van would cost $16,000, and insurance for cost overruns would total $4,000. They also wrote that each door opener would cost $5,000, which amounts to $80,000 for sixteen doors.
According to Dennis Negron, vice president for Student Development, the $100,000 was transferred towards the project goals. $16,000 went to Transportation Services for the wheelchair accessible van, which has been finished and is actively serving Southern students. The remaining was given to Associate Vice President for Financial Administration Vincent Schober’s budget to fund the automatic door project.
According to Schober, Southern has finished installing the openers that the Student Senate funded on campus. However, only six doors have been added around campus. Southern installed three doors at Wright Hall, two at the Beitz Center and one at the front doors of Hulsey, all currently operational.
“The ADA door openers run approximately $15,000 each to purchase all the required components including installation,” Schober said. “Moving forward, Southern plans to install more ADA door openers on future buildings, including the new School of Business.”
The price was much higher than what Senate was originally told, resulting in fewer doors being installed.
Students who had been looking forward to the automatic doors are disappointed with the results they are seeing, so far.
“The library, they have a button there, but it doesn’t work,” said Burke. “At least, it’s never worked yet. I’ve been pushing it, and I keep having hope.”
Burke said she stayed on campus over the summer and went around to see if the automatic doors had been installed. Not only are she and other students disappointed by the lack of doors on campus, but so are Senate members who voted for the Accessibility Initiative.
John Hargy, a Senate member last year and now SA President, said, “We’re here to advocate on students’ behalf. That includes all students, and that includes the students we have on campus who are handicapped and have disabilities.”
According to Hargy, one of the biggest parts of his campaign for president was to advocate for students with disabilities. He plans to continue to push for a more accessible campus by creating a disability advocacy board to consult when planning events to make sure that “everything’s being looked at from every perspective.”
