UIUC Updates

In this update:

• A new accessibility tool for restaurants in the C-U Area for people with disabilities. 
• There's a bike repair event to learn bicycle maintenance coming up this week. 
• Also some links to the coverage of new misconduct policies adopted by the UI trustees this past month.

The Daily Illini had a good overview and background on the accessibility website:

When picking a restaurant for dinner, many will decide based on the food quality, wait time or distance from home. However, people with physical disabilities often must consider many other factors about restaurants to determine if they are accessible.

Meghan Burke, professor in Education, has been working on a project with her students to create a website called Access Urbana-Champaign, a tool that assists those with disabilities in choosing a restaurant...

This restaurant accessibility project and website have been a part of Burke’s class: SPED 431, Assistive Technology and Physical Disabilities ,for the past couple of fall semesters. The class is also a requirement for Special Education majors.

Full article with additional information here. The accessibility tool is available at their website here. Additional coverage at a Smile Politely blurb here and a News-Gazette article here.

The bike repair event was covered in another Daily Illini article last month:

The Campus Bike Center hosts two “Bike Fix-A-Flat” events this semester. One session was already hosted on Nov. 6; however, another will be available Dec. 6. The events teach attendees how to repair flat tires.

“Flat tires are regarded as the most common repair issue and the most common reason people come into the shop,” said Jacob Benjamin, manager of the Campus Bike Center.

The events are available to non-bike owners as well because this class is solely a demonstration. The classes are free for anyone, which reflects the philosophy of the Campus Bike Center.

More information at the full article here. More information at the Campus Bike Center webpage here and the event webpage here.

The new misconduct policies at the University of Illinois campuses was covered in the News-Gazette a couple weeks ago and touched on a local conflict between a news affiliate on campus and campus reporting requirements. From that article:

Citing a sense of “urgency,” University of Illinois trustees Thursday approved new system-wide recommendations to combat sexual misconduct on its three campuses, echoing those developed recently at the Urbana campus.

They include restricting faculty-student relationships, requiring background checks for sexual misconduct in hiring, and banning separation agreements that withhold any sexual-misconduct findings about departing employees.

Meanwhile, First Amendment groups continued to press the university to reverse a decision forcing WUIS public radio journalists to disclose any sexual-misconduct complaints they uncover to the UI, including the name of the victim, under its Title IX mandated-reporting policy.

A lot more information at the full article here. The News-Gazette also published an opinion piece from a journalistic perspective on the disclosure rules last week that examined some of the ethical dilemmas involved here. WCCU had additional coverage of an ACLU lawsuit here and some background and links of the disclosure back and forth here.