To know Katelyn Murray’s experience is to understand her persistence. During her first semester at the University of Illinois at Springfield, Murray, a quadriplegic, could not get to her room without calling someone for help or waiting for a passer-by to open a locked entrance to her dorm’s residential are

“Like a dog sitting at the back door waiting to get in — that’s how I felt the entire semester,” Murray said.

Murray says she couldn’t shower without help during her first year at UIS because her wheelchair wouldn’t fit inside a shower measuring 28 inches by 32 inches, short of standards that say showers for wheelchair users should measure at least three feet square.

The university was told that grab rails were required in showers for the disabled in the summer of 2005 but didn’t install them until two years later.

UIS administrators deny that the school falls short in its treatment of disabled students.

“We are absolutely and unequivocally committed to meeting the needs of our students with disabilities,” says L. Christopher Miller, vice chancellor for student affairs and administrative services. “We go beyond the Americans With Disabilities Act when it comes to accommodation. It’s part of our value system on this campus, and it’s true. We are responsive.”

But administrators, under fire from Murray and other critics, have called experts from the Champaign-Urbana campus to assess how UIS is meeting the needs of the disabled. Murray has called a lawyer.

Problems widespread, disabled students say

Problems on campus go beyond inaccessible dorms, according to Murray and her allies.

*Karla Carwile, a disabilities specialist who had pushed for door openers and other improvements for disabled students, was replaced in August. She remains on the payroll but has hired a lawyer and filed a complaint with the state Department of Human Rights. Mary Lee Leahy, Carwile’s attorney, declined comment on her status, as did university officials.

*A faculty committee on disabilities blasted school administrators in an October report that said students weren’t getting help they needed and were unsure whom to contact if they needed assistance.

“(Committee) members suggested that more proactive efforts should be made by ODS (the campus Office of Disabilities Services) and the university to assist students with disabilities,” wrote committee members. “Constructive communication between ODS and the campus community is greatly needed.”

Miller dismisses the report.

“I think there was a difference of opinion and that people didn’t know all the facts,” Miller said.

*The Office of Disabilities Services has been slow to tell teachers what disabled students need in classrooms. Letters explaining needs such as extra time to complete assignments and sign-language interpreters were late by as much as three weeks last fall, according to the faculty committee’s report. Miller and other university officials say they received eight complaints, six from students and two from faculty. In at least four cases, they blame students for not submitting paperwork early enough.

*Murray and others say the university’s new $16 million gymnasium isn’t as accessible as it should be. They say administrators last year ignored their recommendation for $16,400 worth of exercise equipment, most of which could also could have been used by people without disabilities.

Miller says students can still exercise with other equipment and help from personal trainers.

Disabled students say the new gym is better than the old one. But there are still problems.

Larry Porter, a quadriplegic who plays wheelchair rugby and finished the Boston Marathon this year in slightly more than 31/2 hours, points to weightlifting benches that are barely a foot wide. A wheelchair user needs a bench a bit wider than his torso so he can get himself back into his chair by pushing off from the bench with his hands on either side of his body.

The gym opened in September. A ramp allowing wheelchair users to access racquetball courts arrived last Wednesday. Murray, who has trouble gripping things, said she can’t use some weight-lifting equipment because there are no straps that would allow her to attach handles to her wrists.

“We are still in the equipment purchasing mode,” Miller said.

UIS seeking outside assessment

As recently as last week, experts from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign were on campus assessing how UIS is addressing disability issues. Miller said UIS asked for an outside opinion last year. He said he didn’t know when the assessment would conclude or if a report would be issued.

“I don’t know if there’s going to be a report or just a meeting,” Miller said. “It’s probably going to be an ongoing thing,” he said.

Murray said she is talking to a lawyer with Equip for Equality, a non-profit advocacy group for the disabled.

“We know there are issues out there with compliance — big-time issues,” says Barry Lowy, an Equip for Equality attorney who has examined blueprints for Murray’s dorm, which opened in 2001. “All I want them to do is understand they have problems and they need to fix them. I think there’s some recognition on their part now that they have some concerns.”

Last spring, Murray and fellow student James Lyon, who also uses a wheelchair, began gathering signatures on a petition to administrators stating that the needs of the disabled weren’t being met and demanding that the university get accessible gym equipment. The gym issue was especially important to Murray after she suffered a potentially deadly blood clot during her first semester at UIS. Exercise helps prevent quadriplegics from developing blood clots that can lodge in vital organs, shutting them down.

The old UIS gym, since replaced by the new recreation center, had no equipment accessible to Murray. Before suffering her blood clot, Murray offered to bring her own equipment from home, but she says university administrators refused the request because of liability concerns.

John Ringle, director of housing and student life, says that wasn’t the reason.

“It should be our responsibility to provide exercise equipment for her,” Ringle said.

Ringle said the university found equipment, but it took about three months for the supplier to deliver. In retrospect, he said, allowing Murray to use her own gear on an interim basis would have been a good idea.

U of I president promises ‘best possible experience’

B. Joseph White, president of the University of Illinois system, did better than sign a petition demanding exercise equipment when Murray and Lyon approached him last spring. He wrote out a pledge, promising that he would send an expert from Urbana to meet with them and administrators, then make recommendations.

“We want you to have the best possible complete experience at UIS,” White wrote.

However, White backed off in an e-mail sent to Lyon less than a month later. The president told Lyon that he’d spoken with UIS Chancellor Richard Ringeisen, who had assured him that campus officials had already spoken with Urbana experts about the new gym.

“He or his staff may choose to consult further with Urbana experts on the matter,” White wrote. “They may choose to involve you in such discussion. I need to leave this to the Chancellor and his staff, as you will understand.”

Thomas Hardy, University of Illinois spokesman, noted that an assessment is under way now.

“It’s unfortunate that it seems to have taken too long,” Hardy said.

Based on the number of complaints received by the Office of Disability Services, administrators say they believe the vast majority of disabled students are satisfied. Just two of the school’s 70 registered disabled students — Murray and Lyon — have made formal complaints, administrators say.

“Every single person they’ve wanted to speak with, they’ve been able to,” Miller said.

That’s not the point, says Curtis Meyer, an English professor who uses a wheelchair.

“What happens is, students are placated verbally,” Meyer said. “They’re told they’ll be given certain concessions, and then they’re not given concessions. I think the idea is, we’ll string them along until they either graduate or quit.”

Murray says administrators have been watching her, and an e-mail she obtained through the state Freedom of Information Act suggests she has a point.

In January, a resident adviser e-mailed his supervisor when a lawyer visited Murray.

“Could you please provide more information?” the advisor’s supervisor replied. “What time did this occur? Was this the same attorney who has visited previously (he would be in a wheelchair if so)? Were you asked to do anything?”

The e-mail, with a subject line reading “Important,” was sent up the chain of command to Miller, who makes no apologies.

“It is appropriate for that information to be passed on,” Miller said. “She’s not being spied on. They’re (the resident advisors) the eyes and ears of what goes on in the building.”

The solution, Meyer said, lies in more communication. The university should gather a group of experts and affected parties, including civil rights attorneys, medical professionals, students and administrators from UIS and elsewhere, and hold a public panel discussion.

“I mean really communicate,” Meyer said. “Really put everything on the table, and make every party responsible and accountable.”

Bruce Rushton can be reached at 788-1542.