BRIAN TYNES

Staff Writer

Newly reconstructed Hale Hall has a disability to accommodate handicapped students.

The Association for Students with Disabilities petitioned the Student Government Association Tuesday night for $2,000 to add an automatic door to the Office of Admissions side of the building.

"This is something that has been brought to the attention of the administration ever since Hale Hall re-opened," Damein Delrie, president of ASD and a sophomore computer information systems major, said.

Hale Hall continued a campus construction trend when the building was completed and opened without an automatic door.

"It shouldn't be a matter of what the law requires," Delrie said. "Tech has touted the image of caring about each and every one of its students, and if that's really their philosophy then I would think they would be trying to work with us to correct the problem instead of saying, 'We're not responsible.'"

Mindy Nunez, a liberal arts senator and a senior political science major, said the administration has little concern because the SGA will step in and provide the money.

"If SGA sets precedent for providing handicap access to buildings on campus, the university won't take the responsibility of providing it when the buildings are erected.

"That's what should happen," Nunez said.

Kimberly Ludwig, SGA president and a senior business management and entrepreneurship major, said SGA is glad to help the organization.

"ASD had been bringing about awareness that there is not a handicap -access door, and SGA has the money to provide the doors," Ludwig said.

Ludwig said, if approved, the money will come out of a special projects fund.