Wichita State students have their own Bill of Rights, aimed at protecting students against any potential discrimination by the university or faculty. The Student Senate voted Wednesday night, during its last meeting of the session, to make additions to the Bill of Rights, namely adding gender, sexual orientation and disability to one section of the bill and changing language regarding protections for disabled students.
Annie Wasinger, a cosponsor on the amendments, spoke before the Student Senate on April 2 when the proposed changes were first introduced.
“If this body chooses to amend it (the Bill of Rights), it will be a significant change, as this document has only been amended twice before, in 2000 and 2012,” Wasinger said. “This document, however, is one of the few things fully within your control as an association … These changes are important, and we must act while we have the opportunity to do so.”
Wasinger said the changes were made to reflect language in Section 504 of Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which ensures equal access to educational activities and programs and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Wasinger explained the significance of protections for disabled Americans and the work done by activists to push for those pieces of legislation, assuring the Senate that legislation like Section 504 and the ADA, “didn’t come easy.”
In 1977, disability rights advocates held a record-breaking sit-in, occupying San Francisco’s federal Department of Health, Education, and Welfare office.
“They stayed there until they were able to make sure that 504 was signed into law,” Wasinger said.
Wasinger also recounted protests leading to the passing of the ADA, including one known as the “capitol crawl” in which several disabled activists crawled up the steps to the capitol building.
“Remember all of those people who worked hard to enshrine their protections,” Wasinger said. “Those protections are being contested today and this is something that we can do as a student body to change that.”
The amendment still needs approval from Faculty Senate and the university’s president before being enacted.
