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Northwestern Law School Not Accessible to the Disabled

Brian Leiter

My colleague Frank Cross, who visited at Northwestern in the fall, tells me that "some classrooms, a suite of faculty offices (among the best ones, too) and the building cafeteria are inaccessible.  And even the accessible parts are served by only a single elevator."  This is rather surprising, especially for a wealthy institution like Northwestern Law School.  Is this true of other law schools?  This is surely information that would be of interest to both students and faculty.  Comments are open; no anonymous postings.

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13 responses to “Northwestern Law School Not Accessible to the Disabled”

  1. CM

    Absolutely not true of Santa Clara University School of Law. One of my friends from law school (2001-2004) is confined to a wheelchair and I don't know of any areas where access was limited. There are always challenges, I'm sure, but I know there is access to our classrooms, faculty and administrative offices, as well as the buildings of the rest of the campus; although it is true in some places there is only one elevator. Then again, we are in California, and that probably has something to do with it because our state laws, like Colorado and Florida, are sometimes more stringent than the ADA plus there are provisions for attorney fees and damages.

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  2. NUStudent

    (Semi anonymous) – The building to which he is refering is Levy Mayer. 2 levels of offices are unavailable to disabled persons. The reason is that the building is O-L-D and it is both structually difficult and cost-prohibitive to install an elevator in that building. However, the other areas are accessable, including the basement, first, and second level via an elevator in Rubloff. While not the perfectly ideal situation, it is certainly far from being completely inaccessable. Second note, there's a cafeteria here?!? The school makes sure to arrange offices where those who do need accomodations are not placed in difficult situations. Regarding the claim that the unavailable offices are among the best…I'd dispute that. The views of the lake from the 3rd floor of Rubloff, offices such as Len and Redish, are the best office locations in the school.

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  3. Ravi

    I am a Canadian lawyer and disability rights activist and soon to be a law professor. I am also a Harvard Law School grad. Harvard was incredibly accessible (at the law school at any rate). Many Canadian law schools are far behind with major access problems in huge parts of the law school campus. The University of Toronto, where I am doing my S.J.D., for instance has numerous problems. There are also significant problems at the University of British Columbia. But I would say it's a national problem in Canada with much work remaining to be done. The irony is progressive students are often opposed to tuition increases that would help finance new building construction.

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  4. TRJ

    I have a bit of an insider's background on the issue and one of the sad ironies is that Scott Hall, which houses the university-wide Office for Students with Disabilities (it is on the Evanston campus, but also serves the Law School), did not have an accessible men's bathroom. I graduated two years ago, so this may no longer be the case.

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  5. Dan

    The University of Chicago Law School redid its classrooms last summer, making them all considerably more wheelchair-accessible. It's still a little awkward to get into the building after-hours if you're in a wheelchair, though.

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  6. frank cross

    NU student, there is a cafeteria, or so I understand, and it is in the basement, and that is not accessible.

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  7. Matt

    Penn _seems_ like it should be accessible. It has several elevators, the rooms don't usually have stairs (maybe none do), the main doors have automatic-open buttons. But, perhaps someone who's in a wheelchair might find it less accessable, which is why I'm hesitant to say. Some rooms, at least some of the smaller ones, do not have automatic opening doors. But, over all it seems likely to be reasonably accessable to me.

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  8. OtherNuStudent

    (Semi-Anonymous as well)

    I think that the law school is being disingenuous if it claims that it has exhausted all avenues available to make Levy Mayer (the building in question) accessible.

    There is a Cafe of sorts (Harry's) in the basement of Levy Mayer which could be made accessible with some remodelling of the basement and the addition of a ramp (with the present configuration it might be a bit steep, but I am sure these things can be worked out). Professor Cross certainly seemed a bit unhappy that he couldn't just go get a cup of coffee.

    Further, there is an unused additional stairwell in Levy Mayer. I am neither an engineer nor an architect. But I don't understand why something could not be done with this additional space (adding an elevator). I will grant that some of the old classrooms (Booth, Lincoln, and Hoyne) are virtually impossible to make accessible – there are just too many steep inclines, but there is, perhaps, much that can be done.

    Further, several of the classrooms in Rubloff (a more modern building which connects to Levy Mayer) are not accessible. In almost all of them, this could be remedied by the addition of ramps (the grade is far less steep than that in the Levy Mayer classrooms). As I recall, Professor Cross had a very limited selection of classrooms (he had to teach his Torts class in Wieboldt – the adjoining B-school building).

    Further, I recall at least one situation where Prof. Cross was waylaid because the elevator available for common use broke down (something that has happened more than once this term). However, it is a misrepresentation to say that it is the only elevator. I believe that Prof. Cross was given access to another (perhaps freight, I don't know) elevator.

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  9. Yet Another NU Student

    The law school building at Northwestern contains three connected buildings: Rubloff, Levy Mayer, and McCormick. Of these three main buildings, there is one large classroom that is accessible. One. As the other students have mentioned, the third and fourth floors of Levy Mayer are completely inaccessible, as is the basement of Levy Mayer and Rubloff for all intents and purposes, including the cafe. Come on, other NU Students, calling it a cafeteria is really pushing the definition.

    While I would agree with NU Student the first that the inaccessible offices are not plum, they're the second tier to the really nice Rubloff offices where we house the people we're trying to keep for ever and ever (i.e. Allen, Dana, Presser, Rubinowitz, Shapo, Calabresi, you get the picture). The only other accessible offices (Levy Mayer second floor) house visiting faculty for the most part.

    My understanding is that part of a longer term plan for facilities (could it be the Newer, More Strategic Plan?) includes moving the cafe to the main area in Rubloff. This does not, however, resolve the fact that much of NU Law's main building is not accessible. Unacceptable.

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  10. NUStudent

    NU Student the First returns…That iswhat threw me off originally when he said there was a cafeteria. I was not thinking of Harry's. I will agree that accessability is a problem for the Northwestern Law campus, but I certainly don't think it's nearly as bad as Leiter has made it out to be. Age is a big factor, it makes renovations just that much more difficult. While I can't quite agree with Yet Another in that this is unacceptable, I will say that it is certainly an issue.

    As for plum office space, I want Professor Dana's office. That has to be the most prime real estate short of Rubloff 339!

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  11. Ryan Miller

    BC Law is fully accessible, says a friend of mine who uses a motorized chair and goes to school there.

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  12. Ravi

    Does Ryan Miller refer to UBC Law in Canada or Boston College? I was just there at UBC Law. I have a mobility impairment. It definitely has access problems and the school is well aware of the issues. At many Canadian law schools, the problems are not the subtle second-generation issues that American schools seem to have but basic bottom line access such as no elevator that reaches all the floors or no public elevator (must get key and then codes to get behind locked doors which raises all kinds of implications and in my view is not really accessible).

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  13. Cara

    I am recently considered disabled, and go to law school in Ohio.

    Our library has only one elevator that is constantly on the fritz. Due to library renovation there are no bathrooms in the library, and students must exit the library, and enter the main part of the law school to use the bathroom. As someone who has problems using stairs, I find the intermittent elevator malfunctioning highly frustrating (not to mention painful). At least I can take stairs if need be; we have one student who is in a wheelchair, and a number of students on crutches or with other problems that do not let them take stairs easily.

    I have been told that because the elevators normally work, the malfunction is not an ADA violation.

    Other than that, my law school is wholly wheelchair accessible – I can't think of one room someone in a wheelchair couldn't get into.

    Reply

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