Good Luck
On Your
Finals!
THE MEREDITH
HERALD
o @meredithherald
@ @meredith_herald
meredithherald.com
December i, 2021
Efforts to Install Additional Braille Signs On Campus Continue
By Rachel Van Horne, Associate Editor, and Olivia Slack, Co-Editor in Chief
Using braille—a system of
raised dots that can be read by vi
sually impaired people—on signage
is something that can make build
ings more accessible. Meredith
College student Mikayla Gephart,
‘23, has been advocating for the ad
dition of braille signs on all build
ings at Meredith since June 2019.
The Meredith Herald recently
interviewed Gephart and Assistant
Director for Disability Services
Carolyn Koning to hear more about
this issue.
Upon arriving at Meredith,
Gephart, who identifies herself as
blind, noticed that all buildings
had a sign on the outside of them
indicating the buildings’ names,
but that these signs did not include
braille. Gephart said, “I started
advocating for braille signage be
cause I feel it is unfair that I do not
have the same access to the signs
as everyone else.” She continued,
“When I realized in June, 2019
that Meredith needed more braille
signage, I alerted Carolyn Koning
about the issue. I didn’t want the
issue to get swept under the rug.
Two years later, there has been
minimal progress.”
Gephart gave an example
about the impact of inconsistent
braille on campus: “The lack of
braille signs grew particularly
frustrating during my first Corn-
huskin’,” she said. “I volunteered
to bring some cans to one of the
co-chairs for the Class of 2023, who
lived in Heilman. I lived in Fair-
cloth, where all of the room num
bers were brailled. However, when
I tried to find the correct room in
Heilman, I was shocked to find that
there were
no braille
signs to
help me find
the correct
room.”
Kon
ing said that
when she ar
rived at Mer
edith, braille
signage was
inconsistent
and that she and Karen
Hager, a disability
counselor in the office, have been
working on a braille audit. “Last
summer, we committed to getting
this done,” Koning said. “Karen
Hager and I went into every single
building and every single outside
space, and we made a spreadsheet
and identified every location that
still needs braille.”
When asked about student
advocacy for the braille signs on
Meredith’s campus, Gephart said,
“I think that we need to make the
administration aware that this is
sue is important to us as students
who want to make Meredith a more
inclusive environment.” Koning
A braille sign in Joyner Hall
photo by Olivia Slack
she wanted to make students
aware that they “have done a lot
by increasing visibility and letting
people know we want to be an
inclusive community.”
“We want
diversity
because
it makes
us a more
inclusive
communi
ty,” Koning
said. “We
really do
care about
accessibil
ity and
welcoming all stu
dents.” Koning said
that often, there are “too many
projects and not enough money.”
“Ultimately, we didn't
have the budget for all the lo
cations that still need braille,”
Koning explained. “We prioritized
the buildings that were most
frequently used by a known user
of braille, and we hope to have
access to funding to complete the
braille project at the end of this
fiscal year."
In Gephart’s opinion,
there is little excuse for the lack of
braille around Meredith’s cam
pus. “[Placing braille sign] is as
simple as ordering the signs and
then having Facilities hang them
shared similar sentiments, and said
Students Alert College About Mold in Residence Hall Vents
By Evelyn Summers, Staff Writer
within a week of moving
into her on-campus residence
in Heilman Hall, student Lara
Brown, ‘25, says she started
experiencing s)miptoms that
she described as “pure exhaus
tion, super stuffed up [nose], dry
throat, runny nose [and a] dry
sort of cough.” Brown believes
these symptoms are indicative of
an allergic reaction to mold and
mildew in her on-campus living
space.
“We noticed we had to dust
every two days due to how bad our
room was,” Brown said. “One day
we looked up at our vents and re
alized how disgusting they looked.
There was mildew coating [them]
and mold on the outside of the
actual cover to the vent.” Brown
said that a month and a half after
complaining about their findings,
Heilman’s residence director gave
her and her suitemates 48 hours
to move out with no definite in
formation about when they could
return. Brown and her suitemates
ended up permanently moving to
another floor in Heilman.
On Nov. 16, students living
in Heilman were notified via email
that Meredith had scheduled a
contractor to clean air ducts and
the air handler in Heilman over
winter break to ensure continued
healthy air quality. Prior to winter
break, Heilman students will need
to move all personal belongings
at least four feet away from the
hallway wall to ensure protection
of belongings from the vent clean
ings.
However, Heilman is not
the only residence hall that stu
dents have found mold in. While
residents of Faircloth Hall have
also been notified of intended
cleaning, Andy Bullock, ‘25, who
lives in Poteat Hall, says she also
found mold in her room and has
been sick ever since she moved on
campus. She said she has a persis
tent “sore throat” and that many
other of the students on her floor
do as well.
When asked about how she
felt about the upcoming cleaning
project, Brown replied, “I don’t
understand how they are just now
in accessible places,” Gephart said.
“I have received countless emails
throughout my time here saying
that they were making progress,
but it has still been three years and
most of our buildings still do not
have signage that is accessible to
the blind. If Meredith can build
new buildings for some of our aca
demic programs, there is no reason
why we cannot purchase braille
signs for all locations on campus.”
According to Koning,
braille signs can cost more than
people may think, and budgets
across Meredith’s campus were cut
due to the pandemic, limiting what
Disability Services was able to ac
complish this summer. “We want
students to know we care about
this,” she said. “I wish we had the
resources to get ahead and be pro
active, but we typically react to the
specific accommodation needs of
incoming students, so it often feels
like we're playing catch up.”
“Putting a braille sign
next to the dorm I am living in
and a few other buildings is not
going to cut it,” Gephart said. “It
can be frustrating being the only
blind student, because I am only
one person. However, if we all
put pressure on Meredith, maybe
this can be finished by the time I
graduate.”
All Herald articles are
available and accessible for screen
readers and other technology on
our website, meredithherald.com.
getting to it when a lot of people
get sick from mold, mildew and
dust. It just seems very irrespon
sible of the school to not put their
students' safety first. A lot of Mer
edith students...are from far away
places, not local, and it is in no
way convenient for them to have
to take things home or store them
somewhere else.”
Carrie Barnhart, Direc
tor of Residence Life, explained
that once the College was notified
of the problem by students, they
brought in an environmental hy
gienist to take a closer look. “The
results of the testing by an Ameri
can Industrial Hygiene Associa
tion (AIHA) certified lab showed
no safety concerns,” Barnhart
said. “Having this AIHA certifica
tion is a sign that they are provid
ing expert testing and analysis,
and that their review of the test
results is trustworthy.”
When asked about the
Photo by Lara Brown
ties staff, and the College also has
a rotation for having a contractor
provide additional cleaning of air
ducts and the air handlers.” She
added that according to the envi
ronmental hygienist, “the levels
[of mold] found did not indicate
an immediate need for remedia
tion in order to remain at a safe
level for residents.”
According to Barnhart,
“Heilman is next on the list for
this extra step of cleaning by an
cleaning schedule already in place, outside contractor during winter
Barnhart said, “The air vents and
air handlers in our residence halls
are cleaned regularly by our Facili-
break. All of the residence halls
will have this cleaning on a regular
schedule as part of this rotation.”