Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Clearing an Equal Path

As the student population returned to the Hilltop after the Columbus Day weekend, many discovered that the landscape of campus had fundamentally changed: The Reiss pathway, the entrance to Henle Village fishbowl and Tondorf Road have all closed.

Before the closure of these key routes, the administration acknowledged that due to the Hilltop’s difficult topography, not all routes on campus are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. However, alternatives to non-compliant routes were always available. As the construction-related route closures have gone into effect, the remaining pathways — although they might meet the most basic standards for handicap accessibility — are certainly insufficient for students, faculty, staff or visitors to campus who are not able-bodied individuals.

The portion of the replacement pathway that leads from the back of Reiss to Darnall Hall is very narrow by any standards — it barely has room for two people to pass each other going opposite directions. Constricting traffic to this pathway additionally creates increased traffic,and any physically disabled person travelling on this route would likely not have adequate space and time to walk from building to building.

The same can be said about the pathway that runs parallel along Tondorf Road from Harbin Hall to Darnall and St. Mary’s Hall. While any handicapped student can use the elevator in Regents to access the Leavey Center, those who cannot use stairs must exit Regents at the second floorand continue along Tondorf road to points north so long as access to the Leavey Bridge is closed.

Obviously, by nature of such significant construction, students and administrators alike must suffer inconveniences while traversing campus, but leaving handicapped students high and dry to navigate these construction sites without accessible routes is a misplacement of Georgetown’s priorities.

The university should remember that these changes affect some more than others and do its best to alter alternatives accordingly.

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