The Accessible Carolina Committee is charged by the Equal Opportunity and Compliance (EOC) office to assist in identifying and prioritizing remedies to access barriers including physical, attitudinal, digital, event and parking barriers; streamline communication on accessibility projects campus wide; and review and provide feedback on policies, procedures and processes where disability is a key component. A primary function of the Accessible Carolina Committee will be to identify areas of physical inaccessibility and the degree of their impact to inform institutional priorities with respect to budgeting for remedies. The Accessible Carolina Committee shares updates with University leadership to help inform institutional goals and priorities.

The committee has membership representation from:

• Carolina Housing
• Emergency Management and Planning
• Digital Accessibility Office
• Facilities Planning and Design
• Equal Opportunity and Compliance
• Registrar’s Office
• College of Arts and Sciences Facilities
• Classroom Support and Learning Space Design
• Dining Services
• Planetarium
• Friday Center
• Transportation and Parking
• Environmental Health and Safety
• The Arts
• Information Technology Services
• UNC Athletics

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Those with questions about the Accessible Carolina Committee are encouraged to contact the director of equal opportunity and Americans with Disabilities Act coordinator.

• 919-966-7545
• accommodations@unc.edu

• Accessibility Resources and Service (ARS) merged with Equal Opportunity and Compliance (EOC), consolidating resources and expertise to better assist the campus community in the interactive accommodation request process.
• Key campus accessibility stakeholders continued to work with the Office of Undergraduate Education’s Course Substitution Committee to assist in reviewing course substitution requests for foreign language and math. The goal of the committee is to support students who experience a “significant difficulty” with learning and retention of content in global language or quantitative reasoning courses.
• The University has prioritized accessibility initiatives by allocating $5M of University funds to Facilities Services in the fiscal year 2024 budget towards these improvements. The majority of the budget supports improvements in academic buildings to provide accessible restrooms, elevators and access to classroom spaces. The remaining budget supports improvements to classrooms, classroom furniture (such as adjustable desks) and signage.
• The UNC Board of Trustees provided advance planning approval in July 2023 and designer selection approval in September 2023 on the following projects as part of the $5M University-funded accessibility initiatives allocation:

• $200,000 for Caldwell Hall accessibility improvements.
• $200,000 for North Campus Elevator Modernization, to include Davie and Manning plus design for the next two priorities on the 6-year R&R plan Coker & Mitchell.
• $150,000 for Academic Affairs buildings restroom accessibility upgrades.
• Advance planning and designer approvals represent the first steps in the process in preparation for the next step of requesting full project authority from the UNC Board of Governors.

• At the July 2023 UNC Board of Trustees meeting, we were also able to move several other important elevator projects forward, by getting approval for designer selection on the following elevator modernization projects: Brinkhous-Bullitt, Lineberger Cancer Center, Carroll Hall, Dey Hall and Morrison Residence Hall. An elevator modernization project at the Student Union has also been initiated.
• Facilities Services staff partnered with Emergency Management and Planning staff to launch an elevator outage notification system through the Carolina Ready Safety App so that students, faculty and staff can be notified in a timely manner when there are unexpected elevator outages on campus. There is a public dashboard that community members can access to check the status of elevator outages on campus.
• University Facilities Services is conducting a physical barrier assessment to identify additional key areas for accessibility improvement on campus. The initial phase of the assessment will include 18 buildings.
• Carolina Housing completed several accessibility projects in the summer of 2023, and additional capital improvements are in the works. Accessibility upgrades to Avery Hall will include the addition of an elevator, making the common area lounges and kitchens accessible, as well as the creation of several accessible bedrooms/suites (with roll-in or transfer showers). They also conducted walk-throughs of several residential buildings with EOC’s student disability accommodations team to identify potential areas of improvement prior to August 2023 move-in.
• Renovations to the Old Well were completed in time for the start of the 2023-24 academic year. The project included the installation of an accessible sloped pathway that connects the surrounding brick pavers with the upper platform of the Old Well. The stone plinth supporting the fountain was removed, and the fountain lowered and reinstalled directly onto the upper platform.
• In the Instructions for Operating Budget Submissions for Fiscal Year 2024-25 that were sent out to every school and unit at UNC-Chapel Hill in October 2023, enhancing campus accessibility was listed as one of the top priorities for funding consideration.
• EOC staff conducted several trainings throughout the 2023-24 academic year. EOC accommodations team hosted trainings on disability and the accommodation process during Transportation and Parking in-service events. Training for instructors launched in Carolina Talent titled Working with Students with Disabilities. This training covers processes, common accommodations, legal obligations and how to create a welcoming classroom environment.
• EOC launched two new digital tools to improve accessibility on campus. The UNC community can now report access concerns campus wide by completing the new Report an Access Concern form. Additionally, EOC recently launched a new lactation guide for campus. This webpage includes a map of locations for safe and discrete lactation rooms for employees and students.
• Accessibility stakeholders partnered with Campus Safety to implement an evacuation plan for individuals with disabilities. A short video was created to highlight key evacuation procedures in the event of an emergency.

• 2020 – EOC student accommodations, formally known as Accessibility Resources and Service (ARS), played a key role in the Keep Teaching efforts which were developed during the early part of the COVID pandemic and continues to be a member of the Tar Heel Teaching and Learning Collaborative which has emerged from the original group of stakeholders. Additionally, student accommodations was a key campus partner in developing Resources & Remote Options for Fall 2021 return to campus and providing input to the Class Features tool created in 2021.
• 2019-The University established the Digital Accessibility Office (DAO), dedicated to creating a more inclusive digital experience. The mission of the DAO is to deliver accessible digital content and resources with the knowledge that accessibility enhances usability for all and leads to the creation of policies and procedures governing digital content.
• 2018 and 2011-UNC-Chapel Hill hosted statewide conferences in partnership with the North Carolina Association on Higher Education and Disability (NC AHEAD). The organization offers professional resources for those invested in creating a welcoming higher education experience for individuals with disabilities.
• 2018-EOC student disability accommodations introduced an exam excuse form to complement Academic Advising’s exam excuse process for use by students with disabilities needing assistance with finals scheduling for reasons specifically related to their accommodations. This was also implemented in the Fall of 2022 to review religious exam excuses.
• 2017-EOC student disability accommodations worked with Student Conduct to insert accommodation information and language within process so students are aware they can request accommodations through the process.
• 2015-Carolina established more accessibility resources at athletic and sporting events in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The University implemented an accessibility training for staff to better assist spectators and athletes with disabilities attending sporting events.
• The Transportation and Parking Accommodations Committee formed to strengthen the overall moving experience on campus for those with disabilities. As a part of the Transportation and Parking master plan new vans were purchased for Point-to-Point (P2P). More information on parking and Point-to-Point (P2P) can be found on the Transportation and Parking website. This resource offers accessible on-demand transportation services that operate between pick-up and drop-off locations and assist with inter campus travel. Each of the vans are each equipped with a wheelchair lift.
• EOC student disability accommodations, and now employee accommodations, has supported and coordinated accessibility efforts at the main UNC Commencement ceremonies for more than 20 years including accessible visitor seating.