DiNapoli audit: There's room to improve access for the disabled at Stony Brook University, other SUNY campuses
The Stony Brook campus last spring. Auditors visited classrooms, gyms, bus stops, parking lots and other facilities there and at other SUNY campuses. Credit: Howard Schnapp
Stony Brook University could improve 25 bathrooms and a dozen other areas to make its campus more accessible to students with disabilities, according to a recent report by state Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli’s office.
In the August report, auditors identified 170 areas at six SUNY campuses, including Stony Brook, that could be improved beyond meeting minimum requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act standards for Accessible Design.
The state audit on accessibility covered the period from July 2018 through October 2022.
Auditors visited classrooms, gyms, bus stops, parking lots and other facilities at Stony Brook University, Binghamton University, SUNY Maritime College, SUNY Morrisville, SUNY Cobleskill and SUNY Oneonta. They reviewed 2,697 items at 103 structures.
In most of the areas cited, improvements likely would not require structural changes, auditors wrote. In some cases, they could mean adding an extra grab bar in a bathroom or adjusting the height of fixtures such as sinks, mirrors or toilet seats so that they are the appropriate height for someone in a wheelchair.
In a July 14 letter in response to the audit, Beth Berlin, SUNY’s senior vice chancellor for operations and management and chief operating officer, wrote the system was “pleased” that the audit found that all buildings and structures were fully compliant with ADA standards.
However, Emily Ladau, an author and activist from West Babylon, noted that “the Americans with Disabilities Act is the floor, rather than the ceiling, of what it means for something to be truly accessible.”
Ladau, who graduated from Adelphi University in 2013 and is on her alma mater’s board of trustees, said that as a wheelchair user, her college experience was profoundly shaped by the accessibility of her campus.
“All college students should have equal access not only to participate, but also to thrive in their surroundings,” she wrote in an email Wednesday.
In her letter, Berlin said the campuses are planning for renovations and accessibility improvements.
“Many of the items identified by the auditors are already incorporated within those plans and/or have already been addressed,” she wrote.
As for Stony Brook, auditors observed nearly 600 facility areas and listed 25 bathrooms, two classrooms, four kitchen and laundry areas, two locker rooms, one elevator, one dining hall and two water fountains for improvement.
Stony Brook University had more than 2,200 students with disabilities in the 2021-22 academic year, including 469 with physical disabilities, according to state data.
William Herrmann, the university’s vice president of facilities and services, wrote in a statement Wednesday that Stony Brook will launch a facilities master plan this fall that will include additional ADA improvements.
“We welcome the recommendation to exceed ADA's requirements and continue our deep commitment to improving accessibility for our students, faculty and staff,” his statement read in part.
Therese Brzezinski, director of planning and public policy for the Long Island Center for Independent Living in Levittown, noted students’ lived experience as critical to access planning.
“Direct dialogue and active collaboration with disabled students from a broad range of backgrounds is an absolute must,” she wrote in an email Wednesday.
Dandan Zou covers education for Newsday. Previously, she worked for a community newspaper in Maryland and a personal finance magazine in Washington, D.C.
