Science department under fed microscope

Federal investigators from the Office of Civil Rights inspected campus buildings Tuesday and Wednesday, to see if the science department violated the law by not complying to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

The site inspection is the last leg of an investigation initiated by Elizabeth Campos, a disabled student, who filed a complaint with the United States Department of Education in March of 1995.

"I know I have a right to an education, and when that right is denied I am going to fight," said Campos, who has been confined to a wheelchair since 1988 when she suffered an injury to her knees.

She alleged she was denied access to the chemistry labs and professors retaliated against her for demanding her rights as a disabled student by accusing her of cheating.

Chemistry and biochemistry department chair Daniel Buttlaire refused to comment on the issue.

Campos initially challenged the science department in the fall of 1994, her first semester at SF State. She filed a grievance with the Disabled Resource Center because she said she did not have proper access to laboratory and computer rooms. The laboratory tables were too high for her to reach and she was unable to move around the narrow aisles cluttered with furniture to get supplies, Campos said.

According to Campos, instead of accommodating her needs, as mandated by the ADA, her instructor, Jane Krevor, and Professor Don Eden offered to waive Campos' science requirement. Campos refused because biochemistry is her major.

When the Disabled Resource Center was unable to address her complaints, Campos went to Don Brown, the coordinator of disability programs. Brown said by law the science programs on this campus must be accessible.

"There is a history of exclusion in the hard sciences (toward disabled students)," Brown said.

Computer science major Ken Lee, also a disabled student in a wheelchair, said he does not have access to computer labs on campus and this adversely affects his education. However, Lee, 23, said he has never filed a complaint because, "I always feel guilty, as if I am causing trouble."

Brown met with the chair of the science department, Buttlaire, and Eden later that semester, according to Campos. By the spring of 1995, she said she was able to participate in the labs because the department provided a handicapped table.

However, Campos continued to file complaints with the Disabled Resource Center and with Brown because her table did not have basic amenities like a fume hood and a working sink. Also, the designated emergency exit was both locked and blocked by a table her wheelchair would never be able to fit past in the event of a fire. Fire is a special concern in a chemistry lab where students are constantly working with flammable chemicals.

In February of last year, Campos received a letter from Student Discipline Officer Bob Westwood requesting a meeting. When they met, he notified her that Nancy Carnal, biological sciences professor, had accused her of cheating on an exam. According to Campos, Westwood then offered to drop the investigation and not file charges if Campos agreed to withdraw from all science courses and change her major.

A faculty member within the SF State administration confirmed Campos' allegations.

Westwood can not comment on specific student allegations, because it would violate student confidentiality, according to university policy.

"The accusation of cheating was clearly retaliation by the department because I had been complaining about access issues," Campos said.

According to the faculty source, the cheating accusations arose from a test a chemistry professor allowed both Campos and another disabled student to view prior to the exam.

The other student involved is part of the investigation, but did not want to discuss the matter.

Though Campos refused to change her major, Westwood never carried out his threat of charges. He sent her a letter warning her to be careful about who she studied with.

This incident prompted Campos take her fight to the US Department of Education. She reported the access problems and the claim of cheating against her. The case was given to Inspector Donato Tapia, an investigator for the Department's Office of Civil Rights.

According to Campos, this week's inspection of the science buildings is the final steps in Tapia's ongoing investigation of Campos' case since April of 1995.

Tapia was on campus with the federal inspectors Tuesday, but would not comment on the investigation. Professors and investigators involved with the case met in a closed-door meeting on the fifth floor of the administration building on Tuesday. Brown also said he met with investigators, but was unable to comment on the details.

Kimberly Bartlett, the director of the Disabled Resource Center, confirmed federal inspectors were on campus in response to a student's complaint. She said if the investigators found a violation of the law, then they would write a report and the university would be forced to address the issues.

"In the worst case scenario, the feds could withhold money from the university because it is illegal to fund an institution that discriminates, but I don't expect that to happen," Brown said.

In an earlier interview with Bartlett, she said the chemistry labs are "not completely in compliance with the law," and cited lack of money as a factor. Bartlett said the university plans full compliance with the ADA. Due to a small budget the most important issues are handled on a case-by-case basis, and some are given priority over others, she said.

Brown said the university does have a master plan with the goal of total compliance with the ADA. SF State is in the third year of a four-to-five-year plan.

During a Gater investigation of Campos' accusations, the emergency exit in chemistry lab room 102 was locked. When a Gater photographer knocked on the door in an effort to take a picture of the table blocking it from the other side, chemistry professor Eden opened the door and pushed the photographer out of the way.

Campos claims she has written a total of 18 letters to President Robert A. Corrigan without response. She said Corrigan once walked right past her in front of the Administration Building while Campos was struggling to get in because the electric handicapped access door was broken.

"He didn't even hold the door for me, and that is typical of the attitude at SF State. There should be a sign out front that says disabled students not allowed," Campos said. "I may never graduate but I am determined to make my mark."

[ Golden Gater Online March 28, 1996 ]

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