Continuing with my peripatetic campaign to improve the lives of students at Clemson University (and other universities), and especially disabled students, I wrote (again) to President Clements of Clemson (has a ring, doesn't it?), raising in particular the pressure placed on all students with the ridiculous intensity of their studies:

"Dear President Clements,

Well. Here I am writing to you again. I trust you and your family had a pleasant Christmas and New Year.

A little background. I attach my short-form resume. I am, I believe, the second-oldest freshman at Clemson at the moment. 62 years of age. And one who has been declared Disabled by the SSA. I have spent a lifetime advocating in politics. I am now with the Clemson family to add some late-life theoretical discipline to the activism. But, that is not going to stop me being active.

I admire Clemson for its values, not least its declared ambition to be a genuine beacon of support for diversity, including the Disabled. And nothing that I do, or have done so far, is denigration of that. Rather it is to work within my new family to find ways where we can improve.

So far, I have addressed you, your supportive Vice Presidents and their staff on the issue of Disabled Parking. Finding ways to provide more, without it costing a lot, so that it is not Disabled students who are left desperately trying to find parking space, while, for example, Reserved parking spaces remain empty. Johnson Link (and others) have been very helpful in this regard. And I will be speaking with Jonson during the Spring semester, for an update on progress.

With this e-mail, I want to address the issue of Accommodations with professors, through Student Accessibility Services. Margaret Camp has been extraordinarily helpful and supportive in this regard. Nothing I address with this e-mail is critical of her or her staff. She is operating within policy guidelines. But, I attach below (with her knowledge) a very revealing exchange between us:

(Me to Margaret): “I was away from school for a week with vertigo. There were then some one-day vertigo hiccups. And my father's death. I thought Accommodation would be a case of discussing with professors what coursework needed to be done, to ensure i had a handle on the class, what could be left out, all working towards Accommodations which found a balance between my disabilities (+ family leave), understanding the course and Accommodations, to reduce the stress on me (so as to 'Accommodate' my disabilities). What I found was at least two professors who pretty much said, we are allowed to give you more time, but we can't actually adjust/'Accommodate' your disabilities, because 'policy' is that you have to do everything on the course. I want to discuss this. Because it seems rather to negate the purpose of 'Accommodation.' I had folks in two classes who took off a week to go golfing. They were allowed to hand stuff in late. Where is the difference?”

(Margaret’s very considered response): “I can explain this to you also when we meet, but accommodations are not designed to leave out parts of classes. We accommodate the process, not the expectation. An accommodation can never create a fundamental alteration of the class – that is, it cannot change the expectations, the intended outcome, or the course delivery model. Even with excused absences, you would be expected to complete all the course work and be responsible for any material covered when you are not there – the accommodation is that you would not be penalized for the absence, and perhaps that you would have an adjustment to the deadline for turning in work. I should also note that a death in the family is very different from a disability-related absence, and it would be up to the professor how much leniency they provide for a death in the family. That would not be included in the arrangement for medical absences.

I am attaching the form to this email – your professors will each complete this form that describes the protocol you should follow if you need to miss class due to medical reasons (or miss a test, or a deadline), and how much flexibility they can allow. For example, if they determine that they could not allow more than 5 absences, even with additional flexibility extended to the student with a medical need, then those are the parameters within which we must work, and if you miss more than 5 classes you should withdraw from the class or receive an F.

I think perhaps where you are confused is with the distinction between accommodating the process and accommodating the expectation – we would never say that a student with a disability does not need to complete all the work that another student would complete for a class; however, we might say that they will complete all the work, but will take a slightly different path to arrive at the same destination. Their path may include a couple additional absences that do not bring their grade down, or perhaps an assignment turned in a couple days late, or a missed test which they make up within 24 hours, etc. The accommodation is for the flexibility in the process, but not flexibility in the expected outcome of the class.

Any professor can decide to accommodate any student due to absences – the agreement lays out what the expectation will be for our office and the professor and the student. It will be our guide for what is mandated for the class. The professor may decide to go beyond what we have mandated, but they cannot decide to allow for less than what we have all agreed upon. It sounds like you had professors who were willing to work with you during the Fall semester, and that is great, but you will find that some professors are very strict about absences and class participation. For those classes, it will be important for all parties to have a good understanding up front about exactly what will happen if you need to be absent due to medical reasons, and exactly how much flexibility will be provided.”

This is fine, as far as it goes. But, with respect, I do not think it goes far enough. My point remains, the purpose of diversity and Accommodation should be to find ways to make it possible for people with Disabilities to take part in Clemson. If you ask anyone with Disabilities, they will tell you that it is not enough simply to give us 24 more hours to finish an assignment. Our Disabilities redesign our lives. We work to find ways still to have a life within the redesign. I think it is possible to find ways to allow Clemson to redesign its approach to Accommodation, so that Disabled students can realistically Accommodate their Disabilities and finish a course.

In this regard, I have two suggestions. And I may borrow more of my writings from elsewhere.

First, it is not good enough rather blandly to say we Disabled students cannot expect to ‘redesign’ the course. Of course, standards should not be allowed to slip just for us. The last thing Disabled students want is a free pass. But, almost every instructor I’ve been dealing with so far has a tight grasp on their subject, and on their course design. They know what is necessary to understand the overall thrust of their course. And what can be let go, if Disability intervenes. It really doesn’t require a great deal of thought on the part of the instructor. It just requires the highest level of administration and faculty – um, you – to say, you have my permission; explore what we can allow.

The second point is one that goes beyond merely Clemson. The most difficult issue for those Disabled students I know – and I include myself, front and center – is that way too much is expected of all students, in the first place. I have written on this elsewhere. I attach those writings now:

“COLLEGE STUDENTS NEED A HELPING HAND, NOT A HAND-OUT

Speaking as a college student myself now, I think there are some simple steps that can be taken to help us – and therefore the future of society – without necessarily lumping for the tax-heavy notion of free college tuition.

It’s not just money. Having done this for a few weeks now, it is my opinion that the far greater burden on young students is expectation. Why on earth are we expecting college students to bear the study workload that we do?

My four-point plan:

1) Allow any student the option to add a year to their degree. To make a two-year degree a three-year degree. A four-year degree, a five-year degree. With the extra year funded in the same manner as the remaining years (yes, there will be a tax burden, but way less than totally free college tuition).

2) Drop the semester credit-hour requirement by the consequential percentage, without this affecting student financial aid or federally-guaranteed loans. This should reduce the burden of classes and homework on students by about 25%. College should not be an exercise in character-building by ego-destruction. The latter, in my opinion, is at least partially why we have the current rates of drop-out, depression and suicide.

3) Increase the amounts of federally-guaranteed loans available to students. I may make few friends among fellow students and their parents. But I am not a fan of free college tuition. College education is not a right. It is a privilege. And if it is to be a privilege paid for by many people who have no desire to go to college, those people have a right to expect the privileged to make a contribution by way of future earnings.

4) Reduce the GPA level required for supplementary (beyond federal student aid and loans) government-funded scholarships, grants, awards, etc. Again, this isn’t boot camp. It’s a process to equip our society’s future.”

I had first-hand experience of this secondary issue my first semester, in Fall 2018. I knew that my diagnosed PTSD would not be able to cope with the pressure of four courses, the apparent minimum to get 12/13 credit hours. I was told that I could be allowed and ‘Accommodation’ to take me down to 9 credit hours. Great. Except that I was also told this would necessitate a 25% reduction in my Financial Aid.

Again, it is not an ‘Accommodation’ for Disabled students if it penalizes rather than Accommodates. Or, as I said previously to Margaret, it involves something which is available to any student, for any reason.

It seems to me, with respect, that the principle of Accommodation, without belittling the Disabled, or making us feel inadequate, is the realistic realization that we are not able to study, assign and test like able-bodied students. And that any process which pretends to Accommodate, but actually requires exactly the same output as an able-bodied student, is, with respect, a nonsense. You don’t say to a Disabled Athlete, hey, we expect you still to high jump 2.45 meters; but you can have an extra 24 hours to try. Do you?

Looking forward to an ‘Accommodating’ response.

All the best,
(Peter) Geoffrey Gilson"