Copied from the Bates magazine archives available here.

Most of the Bates community walked inside Commons to feast on culinary delights like roast turkey, chilled roasted eggplant componata, and baked salmon with shellfish sauce.

But Shawn Draper '98, the only Bates student who uses a wheelchair, and about a dozen other students stayed outside Commons to boycott the annual Harvest Dinner, quietly protesting what they say is insufficient handicap accessibility on campus.
"The Harvest Dinner is a peripheral thing the school does that's nice, but with all that Bates needs in terms of handicap accessibility, should we be spending money on this?" asked Draper, a political science major from Plaistow, New Hampshire.

College officials agreed with Draper -- to a point. "This college ought to be fully handicap accessible, and we're going to do it as quickly as we can," said Bill Hiss '66, vice president for administrative affairs, who noted that five ramps at a total cost of more than $50,000 were constructed in the last year. "We estimate it will probably take well over $2 million to solve every handicap-access issue on our campus. But we don't have the money to do that all at once."

Hiss said current and future building projects, such as the new academic building, include full access for the disabled. Bates will continue to spend $50,000 to $100,000 annually to upgrade access to existing buildings.

Draper and Bates officials concur that the College is in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Draper's classes are scheduled in accessible buildings, and both his room in Parker Hall and Commons are accessible. But Draper argues that improving access now need not break the Bates bank.

"Even if someone threw up a few ramps and said, `Hey look, when we can deal with the situation better, we will, but for right now we're going to put these up knowing they're temporary,' that to me would be the appropriate reaction," he said.

Currently, Draper, who has cerebral palsy, must be carried up the steps of some residence houses if he wants to visit friends. David Lieber '98, co-coordinator of the protest and Draper's former roommate, noted that the lack of ramps has been dangerous for Draper, who last year hit his head on the pavement
after being accidentally dropped as he was carried upstairs.

"Bates prides itself on not having exclusive [organizations]," said Lieber, "when in fact the physical structure of the campus is exclusive to some individuals and will be in the future. We need to make sure that this place is truly accessible and really is committed not only in theory, but in practice to its egalitarian ideals."

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