Following a recent evaluation of its current services, the University has decided to establish a new office that will support students with psychological, physical and learning disabilities.
The Disabilities Services for Students Review Team was commissioned by Provost Robert Barchi last September and submitted its final report with recommendations on Tuesday.
Along with the Harnwell House-based center -- which will consolidate various disabilities services -- the University is currently looking for a full-time director to oversee all such services.
The 12-member review team of students, staff and faculty drew members from Penn, as well as from Cornell and Brown universities. The group was commissioned last fall to assess practices at Penn and compare them to those of its peer universities.
The review, though a routine measure, was prompted by an escalating concern among students that there were not adequate resources on campus.
"We are seeing more and more students who are coming to the University with a learning disability, a psychological disability or a physical disability," said Max King, executive director of the Office of the Vice Provost for University Life and liaison for the review team. "The time was right to look at what we were doing and to improve on it."
The new centralized disabilities services office will provide equipment, support staff, counseling and referrals to students. Once named, the director of the office will report to VPUL.
According to King, the new resource will put Penn on par with the nation's top schools in terms of services and accessibility for students with disabilities.
"Among the recommendations [of the review team] are a centralized disabilities services office," King said. "This new office will put us, I think, in the forefront of services for students with disabilities. By consolidating the office we're providing a service that's really quite good."
Current disabilities services at Penn are provided through three programs on campus -- Counseling and Psychological Services, Student Health Services and Tutoring and Learning Resources.
"Differences in reporting structures, funding, program development, standards and physical location produce barriers to successful comprehensive services for students with disabilities," the report read.
Because these services are spread across campus and administered by numerous offices, trying to go between offices is often frustrating for students.
"I think that it will be another additional support to students who have particular needs, and I think it will be easier to coordinate the support that they need," Student Health Services Director Evelyn Wiener said of the new office. "It will facilitate being able to refer students."
"My feeling is that many of the elements are already in place, but it will make them more available," she added.
Administrators also said they hoped that the location of the disabilities services office -- inside one of the residence halls and adjacent to Tutoring and Learning Resources -- would remove any stigma perceived by students seeking help.
The initiative "was really driven by student requests," Vice Provost for University Life Valarie Swain-Cade McCoullum said. Support "was located in Counseling and Psychological Services, and some students weren't comfortable going into Counseling and Psychological Services to say `I have a disability.'"
The review team's effort to normalize disabilities services also suggested that faculty invite students with disabilities to meet with them and offered guidelines for special accommodations in the classroom.
"Faculty have a tremendous amount of interaction with all students," CAPS Director Ilene Rosenstein said. "Understanding what might be helpful for students and how to pick out a problem is key. Faculty interaction is key."
