SERVING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA, RENO SINCE 1893
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY, 2019
FIRST COPY FREE, ADDITIONAL COPIES $1.00 EACH
VOLUME 125, ISSUE 20
Punk Rock Flea Market grows for second year See A&E page A4
Photo via pxhere
Students work on computers on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2017. The University of Nevada, Reno, is rolling out a new website on Wednesday, Feb. 20, to work toward a goal of full visual and hearing accessibility by March 2020.
UNR to unveil new website in effort to achieve full visual, hearing accessibility By Olivia Ali The University of Nevada, Reno, is unveiling several new projects in an effort to achieve full accessibility. The university will be aiming to make technology more accessible to those with hearing and visual impairments. These are to include braille textbooks and teaching materials, braille on all buildings and a more accessible university website. The university is requiring all websites to be fully accessible by March 2020. According to the 2010 Americans with Disabilities Act, discrimination on the basis of disability is inherently illegal. “On July 26, 1990, President George H.W. Bush
signed into law the ADA, a comprehensive civil rights law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability,” the Enactment of the ADA and Issuance of 1991 Regulations reads. “The ADA broadly protects the rights of individuals with disabilities in employment, access to State and local government services, places of public accommodation, transportation, and other important areas of American life. The ADA also requires newly designed and constructed or altered State and local government facilities, public accommodations, and commercial facilities to be readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities.” The National Center for Education Statistics
reported that during the 2011-12 school year, 11.1 percent of students reported having a disability. University President Marc Johnson feels working to ensure every student can access an education is necessary with a percentage so high. “What we want is full accessibility for the sight and hearing impaired,” President Johnson said. “So the first line of defense in those regards is the Disability Resource Center we actually do braille translation of textbooks and teaching materials for sight impaired, which is very individualized support. We do some guides on campus so people can get around campus better. We are just working all the time to work on our
websites and teaching materials so everyone will have access to an education, whether they are sight impaired or hearing impaired.” Both the DRC and the Office of Information and Technology are integral parts of ensuring disabled students can have access to education. “Learning disabilities, dyslexia, color blindness, etc., we all use the Disability Resource Center to help guide us on those things,” Johnson said. “However, we have a lot of IT work that needs to be done.” In an effort to make the university’s technology fully accessible, a new and improved unr.edu will be debuting on Wednesday, Feb. 20. The project began in March 2017 and will
feature more accessible features, like compatibility with screen readers. In addition to rolling out a new website, the university funds the DRC to ensure students with physical, visual and hearing disabilities have support when navigating the university and their classes. “The purpose of the Disability Resource Center (DRC) is to ensure that students with disabilities have equal access to participate in, contribute to, and benefit from all university programs,” the DRC’s Mission Statement reads. “Our goal is to act as a catalyst for the elimination of both attitudinal and architectural barriers See ACESSIBILITY page A2
Schieve, City Council talk housing at 2019 State of the City By Taylor Avery Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve and members of the Reno City Council spoke at the annual State of the City on Tuesday, Feb. 5, at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center. Among the citizens in attendance were Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak, Reno-Sparks Convention & Visitor’s Authority president and CEO Phil DeLone and Reno City Manager Sabra Newby. DeLone and Newby also presented speeches. Mayor Schieve and Reno City Council shared programs that had been implemented in the last year, including new businesses in the area and community outreach programs. Housing was the primary focus of the address. According to Mayor Schieve, housing is “the largest challenge we face.” According to the December 2018 Market Report from the Reno/Sparks Association of Realtors, the median sale price in Reno for an existing single family residence was $362,000. This is a 15 percent increase from November 2017 and 32 percent higher than the national median, according to statistics provided by YCharts. “A median home price of $375,000 simply isn’t an option for many people,” said Schieve. “We must continue to work hard to find ways for people to afford to live here.”
One option the Reno City Council explored in the past were affordable housing units. The City of Reno donated four acres of land to the Community Foundation Housing Land Trust for the Village on Sage Street, a facility with 200 single occupancy units meant for those with an income less than $2,500 per month. “One of the most impressive city accomplishments that I truly do believe is that we oversee the creation of more than 1,600 affordable housing units,” Schieve said. She acknowledged more discussion is needed for the housing issue, announcing that a state of housing address will occur this spring. Mayor Schieve also talked about her Motel Inspection Program, stating it was to the benefit of those living in desperate need. “We cannot allow substandard living for anyone, no matter what they pay in rent,” Schieve said. “I will not waiver on this, and I will not cave to those taking advantage of our neighbors in desperate need.” The City of Reno adopted the program on August 22, 2018. Article 1 of Bill No. 7053 states, “The purpose of this chapter is to address the shortage of safe, sanitary and affordable
See SOTC page A2
Give student section to people who care
Wolf Pack basketball avenge only loss
See SPORTS page A8
Adam Garcia leaves position at UNRPD By Olivia Ali Columbia GSAPP/Flickr Angela Davis speaks at “Quotidian Carceralities in the US and Occupied Palestine” on Nov. 20, 2014. Davis participated in the College of Liberal Arts’s Power of Diversity Speaker Series.
Activist, Angela Davis presents for ‘Power of Diversity’ series By Taylor Johnson The University of Nevada, Reno, College of Liberal Arts invited Angela Davis to discuss diversity in the United States on Wednesday, Feb. 6. The sold-out event took place in the Joe Crowley Student Union. The event was sponsored by the Core Humanities program, Gender, Race, Identity program, Diversity Initiatives, Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada Action Fund, Washoe County
School District’s Equity and Diversity Department and the American Association of University Women Reno. ‘The Power of Diversity: A Liberal Arts Speaker Series’ aimed to promote and encourage conversations regarding diversity across the university’s campus. Speakers present on various topics, including gender, race,
See DAVIS page A2
Adam Garcia is leaving his position as Chief of University Police Services after 18 years of service with UNRPD. Garcia will be taking the position of associate vice president & director of university police services in Las Vegas. The position in the Southern Command will have Garcia overseeing the consolidation of Police Services in Southern Nevada. “This newly created position will work with the various campus and community stakeholders to consolidate public safety functions and provide law enforcement oversight, guidance and leadership at the Desert Research Institute in Las Vegas, College of Southern Nevada, Nevada State College and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas,” Garcia said. University Police Services in Northern Nevada
consolidated over nearly two years, beginning in July 2016 and being deemed complete in early 2018. Institutions consolidated included the University of Nevada, Reno, the Desert Research Institute and Truckee Meadows Community College. Garcia led the consolidation effort, saving Nevada taxpayers more than $600,000 in the first year of consolidation, according to NevadaToday. The Nevada Taxpayers Association awarded the Nevada System of Higher Education the Cashman Good Government Award for the efforts. “As we found in northern Nevada, there is great potential to eliminate duplicative services and be fiscally responsible to our students and Nevada taxpayers, and above enhance safety at the four institutions,” Garcia said. “I am honored to have been chosen for this position and look forward to
See GARCIA page A2