By Kate Zydor
News Editor
The College’s Accessibility Resource Center, located in Roscoe West Hall Suite 202, has welcomed structural changes following its 2023-24 staffing shortages.
According to its website, ARC “collaborates with students, faculty, staff and guests to advance access within the campus community and to further extend both the mission of The College of New Jersey and the mission of the Division of Inclusive Excellence to persons with disabilities.”
Following the departures of Meghan Sellet, assistant vice president for accessibility resources, and the resignations of Kyla McCool, an accessibility specialist, and Dixita Malatesta, Lions Plus learning specialist, ARC struggled to manage its caseload of 1,300 students. In turn, students and families expressed concern about the rate at which academic accommodations were processed.
“The Accessibility Resource Center is one of the most important resources on TCNJ’s campus, as it is an office that allows full access to education for students,” said junior secondary math and special education major Gabriella Gigante.
In response to these challenges, five full-time staff members were hired: Megan Guiry, Kathryn Austin, Claire Giacometti, Allison Larthey and Kartika Kumari. Guiry, Austin and Giacometti were onboarded as accessibility specialists, whereas Larthey and Kumari serve as learning support specialists under the Lion's Plus Program.
“The AVP role was not filled to get more accessibility specialists who can support the students. The three [new] accessibility specialists filled the role of those two vacant positions,” said Guiry.
Now, this team engages in a collaborative effort to serve roughly 1,500 students who utilize ARC’s services.
“Essentially, one person was managing the whole caseload, and for anyone that would be a lot,” said Larthey. “Students are grateful that they have a person that they can go to and know that they are there to support them.”
ARC’s accessibility specialists work with students who have documented disabilities, providing them with support and access to academic, housing, dining and parking accommodations. A large part of the role of an accessibility specialist is to process student accommodation requests and to determine eligibility in accordance with federal legislation.
“People with disabilities learn in different ways,” said Trevin Daly, a senior who is a part of the College’s Career and Community Studies (CCS) program. “We need to support them in any way we can.”
The CCS program is a four-year college-based certificate program for young adults, ages 18-25, with intellectual disabilities. Per its website, “the program is designed to prepare students for adult life through academic rigor, career discovery/readiness, and peer socialization as part of a diverse community of learners at The College of New Jersey.”
Learning support specialists under the Lion's Plus Program will act as a separate entity, which is a major change from the last academic year. Together, they manage the fee-based program that supports students beyond legally mandated ADA-approved accommodations.
Once enrolled in this program, students are provided with one-on-one meetings that coach them toward accessing all campus resources, managing class assignments, navigating Canvas and creating weekly schedules that aid in time management.
“We are also adding in some workshop time where our students can come and do a deeper dive into some of the tools and strategies that we’ve been finding useful,” said Larthey.
Another major change is how ARC’s accommodations portal, Accommodate, will be utilized. Through Accommodate, students can digitally upload their academic accommodation requests, which will be processed and sent to their professors directly.
“It streamlines how students’ accommodation memos are being distributed to their professors,” said Giacommetti. “Previously, they had to hand-deliver their accommodation memos. Now, it is all being sent digitally through our portal.”
Through Accommodate, students can book proctored exams if their professors cannot administer them themselves. In the past, this has been done through Google Forms submissions.
To ensure both students and professors are aware of this portal’s features, the center has created faculty and exam-booking guides. Additionally, the contract students sign to enroll under ARC has been digitized.
The new team also expressed gratitude towards the College’s interim vice president for inclusive excellence, Tacquice Davis. They stated that she has supported ARC in its latest initiatives and ensured all staff members communicate across the different departments.
“Students should feel empowered to use these resources with the addition of more staff,” said Gigante. “Asking for help is one of the most difficult tasks, so having a space that is inclusive for all of TCNJ’s body will ensure support for the students.”
With ARC being fully staffed, the center hopes students will receive more individualized, personal attention to aid in their success at the College and beyond.
“[ARC] should not only support students with their accommodations but also help these students search for and secure jobs prior to graduation,” said Daly.
In pursuing these initiatives to promote campus-wide inclusivity, ARC is also continuing to explore new ways to improve its operations.
“We’re in the office where the culture of change is very apparent because when we came in, we came from all different backgrounds,” said Guiry. “We were working together to create what we think would be best for our students and then making those changes.”
