The University of Maryland GSG passed a resolution Friday that urges university administration to establish a centralized accommodation fund for graduate students and graduate assistants with disabilities.
The resolution was passed without amendments in the body’s first in-person assembly meeting this semester. It calls on this university to establish the fund to “ensure access and equity for graduate students with disabilities.”
This university’s Accessibility and Disability Service covers the cost of academic accommodations, which include mobility aids, transcribers and interpreters, according to Mikol Bailey, the resolution’s author. But the student’s academic department is responsible for funding for other accommodations, such as those for lab assistants and teaching assistants, said Bailey, a history doctoral student.
“It creates a conflict where there’s a financial incentive to not retain the student,” Bailey, the Graduate Student Government’s financial affairs and student fee matters vice president, told The Diamondback.
[UMD graduate school dean Stephen Roth reflects on first year, future goals]
Creating a centralized accommodation fund was one of Bailey’s primary goals at the beginning of their term for the 2024-25 academic year, The Diamondback previously reported.
Bailey said they’re excited GSG passed the resolution and looks forward to seeing how it develops in the future.
The resolution alludes to other Big Ten universities that have implemented similar programs and proposes that the fund could be financed, in part, by grants from the National Science Foundation. The foundation is currently “accepting applications for funding to support [people] with disabilities,” according to the resolution.
Nora Jameson, an epidemiology doctoral student and GSG representative, told The Diamondback the plan to fund the bill is designed to help the university.
“There’s resources in the bill itself to show [this university] how to do it,” Jameson said. “[This university] should know how to implement programs on their campus to allot money to certain individuals that have disabilities because we already have ADS.”
[UMD Counseling Center implements 2 new student support initiatives]
Varaa Kukreti, GSG’s president, told The Diamondback she was not aware of the issue facing graduate students with disabilities until Bailey and other GSG members brought it to her attention.
Kukreti said she discussed the issue with university administration and is hopeful for a solution moving forward.
“It is really encouraging to know that there are already folks at the university who are working on this,” Bailey told The Diamondback.
Jameson voiced support for the resolution after it was proposed by Bailey and hoped that it is the first of many initiatives this university takes to support graduate students with disabilities.
“I think it needs to be here. It should have already been here,” Jameson said. “There are many good first steps that the university can take.”
