Spring Break
A.S. passes disability resolution
Would create a comprehensive advising program for disabled students
Heather Nacht
Issue date: 11/19/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
Associated Students unanimously passed a resolution in hopes of making advising more accessible to students with disabilities.
Right now, the resolution is only an A.S. endorsement for future improvements, and it still needs to go through a few steps before it will go through completely, said Lennon Protho-Jones, the director of campus advising affairs, during Wednesday's A.S. meeting.
Protho-Jones and A.S. President Benjamin Henderson both worked to create the resolution with the help of the director of the Disability Resource Center, Martin Schulter.
"The resolution encourages SJSU to hire a full-time counselor for G.E. and major advising to be available in the Disability Resource Center to help students," Henderson said.
He also said the resolution plans to create an advising hub, or task force, to work with the various colleges on campus in order to help create better major advising for the disability-center students.
During the A.S. meeting, Protho-Jones and Schulter explained the rationale behind the resolution.
Both said there are 1,100 students registered with the disability students and only five counselors available to them. That breaks down to 220 students for each counselor. Of those five counselors, only one is trained as a General Education adviser.
None of the counselors work directly with faculty advisors to manage major advising and disability management, according to the resolution.
Right now it generally takes about four weeks for a student in the disability center to see a counselor, according to the resolution.
Schulter spoke during the meeting about how necessary advising and counseling is in order to help achieve maximum education for students. He said although the disability center does have one G.E. advisor, there are students who need major or graduate school advising, and currently there is no help provided for them at the disability center.
Protho-Jones said he hopes to get the resolution brought up to the Academic Senate in the near future. He also said it will take some time before SJSU will see any results because they still need to research what the financial impact of these actions would be to SJSU along with other possible impacts to SJSU.
Henderson also mentioned that they will try to see if other CSUs are reporting similar issues within their Disability Resource Centers.
Brittany Shabashov, a sophomore radio, television and film major and disability center-registered student, thinks the resolution will be helpful for students with disabilities.
"I think it's a great idea," Shabashov said. "I think students will really benefit from another counselor with G.E. and major knowledge."
Shabashov also said many students with disabilities tend to make their school schedules based on their disabilities, and if advising is to become more accessible, it would be a lot easier to build their schedules.
Right now, the resolution is only an A.S. endorsement for future improvements, and it still needs to go through a few steps before it will go through completely, said Lennon Protho-Jones, the director of campus advising affairs, during Wednesday's A.S. meeting.
Protho-Jones and A.S. President Benjamin Henderson both worked to create the resolution with the help of the director of the Disability Resource Center, Martin Schulter.
"The resolution encourages SJSU to hire a full-time counselor for G.E. and major advising to be available in the Disability Resource Center to help students," Henderson said.
He also said the resolution plans to create an advising hub, or task force, to work with the various colleges on campus in order to help create better major advising for the disability-center students.
During the A.S. meeting, Protho-Jones and Schulter explained the rationale behind the resolution.
Both said there are 1,100 students registered with the disability students and only five counselors available to them. That breaks down to 220 students for each counselor. Of those five counselors, only one is trained as a General Education adviser.
None of the counselors work directly with faculty advisors to manage major advising and disability management, according to the resolution.
Right now it generally takes about four weeks for a student in the disability center to see a counselor, according to the resolution.
Schulter spoke during the meeting about how necessary advising and counseling is in order to help achieve maximum education for students. He said although the disability center does have one G.E. advisor, there are students who need major or graduate school advising, and currently there is no help provided for them at the disability center.
Protho-Jones said he hopes to get the resolution brought up to the Academic Senate in the near future. He also said it will take some time before SJSU will see any results because they still need to research what the financial impact of these actions would be to SJSU along with other possible impacts to SJSU.
Henderson also mentioned that they will try to see if other CSUs are reporting similar issues within their Disability Resource Centers.
Brittany Shabashov, a sophomore radio, television and film major and disability center-registered student, thinks the resolution will be helpful for students with disabilities.
"I think it's a great idea," Shabashov said. "I think students will really benefit from another counselor with G.E. and major knowledge."
Shabashov also said many students with disabilities tend to make their school schedules based on their disabilities, and if advising is to become more accessible, it would be a lot easier to build their schedules.
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