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As Oregon State University continues to grow, some of its students say buildings are being constructed without necessary accessibility features.

The Able Student Alliance, the university’s largest advocacy group for students with disabilities, is accusing the school of failing to meet Americans with Disabilities Act regulations. Since the ADA was signed into law in 1990, none of the structures OSU has constructed or renovated fully meets ADA regulations, said Jeffery Evans, president of the Able Student Alliance.

鈥淚t’s because our facilities services department is incompetent when it comes to ADA compliance 鈥� they don’t know a damn thing,鈥� Evans said. 鈥淭hey contract out to architects who don’t know about ADA compliance, so design is developed and neither side knows if it complies or not.鈥�

New campus structures present challenges for students with disabilities every day, according to Evans. For example, he said the incline of a pathway to Furman Hall is too steep for people who use manual wheelchairs; the ADA requires that each new structure built on a college campus have at least one accessible pathway. Additionally, Furman Hall’s main entrance is not wheelchair accessible, he said, because a small stairway lines the doorway 鈥� so disabled students must use rear entrances.

鈥淧eople on this campus with disabilities go in through the basement, the back door and 鈥� the side door,鈥� Evans said. 鈥淭his is 48 years after separate entrances were banned for people with color. This is inexcusable.鈥�

The Able Student Alliance’s complaints stem primarily from a 2,500-page study of OSU’s facilities. It was completed recently by , an outside organization that has conducted a number of accessibility assessments for schools and government agencies across the country.

The study identified more than 5,000 architectural hindrances on OSU’s campus that don’t meet ADA regulations; of those, 3,700 were found on structures built or renovated since the ADA took effect. Some of the hindrances were: a lack of handrails on stairways and walkways, inaccessible entrances, deficient seating in classrooms and a lack of parking spaces designated for disabled persons.

Others hindrances 鈥� such as a lack of signage, a lack of alternate coloring on stairways and handrails at improper heights 鈥� could be perceived as less impactful. However, according to Evans, even those can affect disabled persons significantly.

OSU officials agree with the criticisms 鈥� to a certain extent. The university is doing everything it can to build structures that are fully accessible, said Angelo Gomez, interim executive director for equity and inclusion. He quickly noted that it was the university that hired SZS Consulting Group to perform the study.

鈥淚t is a really hard job to achieve perfection in meeting every single one of these detailed requirements; I would say there is not an institute in the country that can do this to perfection,鈥� Gomez said. 鈥淭here could be hundreds of requirements, including how many inches are above the floors of a grab bag or a towel dispenser. Some people might say if you’ve met 99 out of 100 requirements, then you’ve failed.鈥�

Furman Hall, according to Gomez, does have an accessible entrance near the front; however, he acknowledged that many of the hindrances identified in the study are unacceptable. He said that changes are in the works for the university’s construction process and that OSU is contemplating hiring SZS for each project to look over blueprints before they are finalized.

鈥淲e’re upset about things like this as well,鈥� Gomez said. 鈥淚t’s architects that we commission, contractors that we commission; we have to improve our own processes and practices of first identifying the contractors and setting appropriate standards for them and putting in practices to monitor their work.鈥�

, which designed Furman Hall, could not comment on whether the hindrances found in the study were intentional. The firm always designs buildings up to code, said Troy Ainsworth, principal at FFA.

The university should have been monitoring projects more closely since the ADA was passed in 1990, said Evans, who has called for such action since he first entered school in 2005 (he’s now pursuing his second bachelor’s degree). The school has refused to work with the Able Student Alliance on projects, he added.

鈥淭hey’re going on and proceeding like they know what they’re doing,鈥� Evans said. 鈥淭hat is so (ridiculous), it’s incredible.鈥�

The Able Student Alliance in April filed a complaint against the university with the U.S. Justice Department in Washington. The U.S. Attorney’s office in Portland wants to handle the case, according to Evans.

Gomez doesn’t understand why the group is taking legal action when the university is pursuing the same goal.

鈥淚t’s ironic in the efforts to really set a high bar for ourselves that they are using those efforts against us,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e all have the same goal in mind: to make the university as accessible as it can be.鈥�