Women’s Center Named in Lawsuit

By Kim Tenure

The Gettysburg College Women’s Center is currently being named in a series of discrimination complaints; the focus of these complaints is the center’s inaccessibility to the physically handicapped. The charges originate from Dr. Marilynn Phillips; she is the wife of retired Professor Robert B. Winans, who formerly taught English, Interdisciplinary Studies and African American Studies. Phillips herself is disabled and has developed a reputation of being an advocate for people with disabilities, particularly those disabilities that confine the person to a wheelchair. This is by no means Gettysburg’s first encounter with Dr. Phillips or is it likely to be their last.

Phillips has filed complaints against: the Women’s Center, any outside organization that presented a program at the Women’s Center, and many other people within the college that have been involved with the Women’s Center. Phillips goal, she claims, is beneficial for all, and it should be understood that she will not gain any money from the result of this endeavor; when a complaint is resolved in her favor it means that action will be taken to remedy the problem or in this case building. Jane North, Associate Vice President of Human Resources and ADA Coordinator for the college, said that currently the plan for the women’s center makes it accessible in 2009. The eventual goal is to have all buildings accessible, but the recent focus has been, according to North, on buildings that are used by the public and not just students; the problem Gettysburg has with resources and money is because many of the buildings are historical buildings, their integrity must maintained, which makes the job even harder. All new buildings have been designed with the goal of accessibility.

It is important to understand that while this is a formal complaint Gettysburg College has not violated any of the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) laws or regulations. North says that” we have to balance resources the best we can. We do have an ADA plan and in terms of the law we are ADA compliant; in part of what we see with Dr. Phillips is many times she doesn’t just want to see us meeting code, but going above code…Another building she has questioned is the Majestic building…It really becomes a resource issue.”

This complaint offers an interesting perspective of what the college is doing for handicap students and others with disabilities. While Gettysburg College has no permanently disabled students, there are a number of temporarily disabled students that function on campus, and according to several representatives of the college everything is done to accommodate them. Temporary disabilities are not addressed under ADA regulations and it is necessary for the person to be disabled for more than six months to be defined as anything more than temporarily handicapped. Physical disabilities are not the only ones that Gettysburg makes changes for learning disabilities are also dealt with in a likewise accommodating manner.

If the complaint is decided in Phillips favor then she says that “a commission will oversee Gettysburg College for the next seven years to make sure that they are in compliance.” Regardless of the outcome, as a result of this complaint there could be a shifting of building priorities, North commented that the plan for the women’s center may change “not because of Dr. Phillips but because of the goal of the women’s center.” Until the suit is decided, all women’s center programs and activities have been moved to an alternative and accessible location.