Elena Newton-Day (junior), president of the Disabled Student Union (DSU), said she was one of many students involved in Occidental’s newest accommodation for making the campus more accessible: the Accessibility Van. The pilot program for the van was first implemented during the Spring 2026 semester, and the shuttle is currently operational from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Newton-Day said.
“It’s very hilly,” Newton-Day said. “There’s a lot of limitations to the way the campus is built.”
Newton-Day said the program was established and implemented after former DSU e-board members, including Ellie Chang ’26, Isabella Lambert ’25 and Jamie Perez-Schere ’25, drafted the idea and repeatedly met with administration.
“We got over 140 [petition] signatures,” Newton-Day said. “[Chang, Lambert, and Perez-Schere] wrote up an entire shuttle proposal, even finding how much it could potentially cost and where that budgeting would come from.”
Newton-Day said that DSU repeatedly met with facilities and administration, culminating in a meeting with President Tom Stritikus during the 2025-2026 academic year.
According to Director of Disability Services and Student Support Felicia Flores, the van features six seats and has space for up to two wheelchairs. Flores said the van is designed to be a way for students with physical limitations to move around campus, allowing them to get to classes, dining halls and on-campus extracurriculars.
Newton-Day said persistence played a major role in the process of achieving new disability accommodations.
“We kept meeting with anyone who would listen to us and even meeting with people who didn’t want to listen to us,” Newton-Day said. “It really has been by students for students.”
According to Flores, the van operates on a first-come, first-served basis rather than running on a consistent schedule.
“We’ve had a lot of positive feedback, and we’re very grateful for that,” Flores said.
Newton-Day said the implementation of the new accommodations was a collaborative effort.
“We had many meetings with facilities and disability services on how to implement it and how to get students on the shuttle, and how to help students know that it exists,” Newton-Day said.
According to Flores, students will need to go through an accommodations process with Disability Services in order to determine eligibility.
“We really take our students’ voices into consideration,” Flores said.
According to Flores, the van’s hours will be changing with the official implementation. Disability Services Case Manager Ashley Amaro said the department will work closely with eligible students to schedule pickup and drop-off times for the van.
Amaro said she is hopeful that the van will unlock a new level of accessibility for disabled students at Occidental.
“We hope it’s something that students are able to have access to because getting access to on-campus resources is extremely important,” Amaro said. “I worked at an institution before where there were no mobility rights, so I definitely have seen how, [and] been able to speak with students [about] how they’ve struggled.”
Amaro said anxiety surrounding meeting with disability services shouldn’t stop students from pursuing accommodations.
“Everybody has different needs,” Amaro said. “Sometimes students are not fully aware of how [much] support and resources there are.”
According to Amaro, DSU can be a good resource for those who need someone to help advocate for their needs.
“Sometimes students are shyer, or just a little bit more nervous when it comes to opening up about their disability,” Amaro said. “DSU can be that voice for students.”
According to the Occidental website, Campus Security also offers safety escorts, which students can request by calling the Campus Safety hotline. Additionally, medical escorts are handled the same way as safety escorts, with the understanding that an “exigent circumstance should exist that precludes alternative arrangements from being carried out.”
Flores said there are some logistical issues for students with disabilities, such as the inaccessibility of the Campus Safety vehicles. According to Newton-Day, interactions with Campus Security officers often left disabled peers feeling uncomfortable and disrespected.
“We’ve been told by campus safety individuals that we shouldn’t be using [Campus Security] for those reasons,” Newton-Day said. “No one wants to have to explain the way that they live their lives on a daily basis and try to justify their existence all the time.”
Newton-Day said the van is a step in the right direction, but the work is just beginning.
“We need accessibility around the clock,” Newton-Day said. “We don’t clock out [of] being disabled at 4:30 pm.”
Newton-Day said while there is still work to be done, she is hopeful that these measures will improve accessibility at Occidental.
“I am really hoping that the shuttle will take the burden off of the students,” Newton-Day said. “I really hope people try it, because I think it has the potential to be what it needs to be.”
Contact Avett Proctor at aproctor@oxy.edu
