ACTION BY UNIVERSITY SHOULD RESOLVE CIVIL RIGHTS COMPLAINT

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Southeast Missouri State University's decision to purchase special computer equipment for a blind student should resolve a federal civil rights complaint filed by the student, a top university official said Wednesday.

"I think we've gotten it straightened out now," said Dr. Ed Spicer, associate to the president. "We've made some arrangements to find some dollars to purchase this equipment."

The equipment, including a braille printer and a voice synthesizer, will cost the university about $3,500 to $4,000, Spicer said.

The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in Kansas City is investigating the complaint and an investigator is expected to visit the campus April 23, Spicer said.

OCR officials have been informed of the university's decision to purchase the special computer equipment, said Spicer. "I have talked to them. I am positive that we will receive an early resolution (of this complaint)."

But the blind student, Angie Carnell, a 24-year-old junior from Portageville, said Wednesday afternoon that she was frustrated by the whole situation and how it was handled by the university.

"It seems very time-consuming, very wasteful and very mind-consuming," observed Carnell.

She said she had not yet been officially notified by university officials of the decision to purchase the special computer equipment.

Carnell said she filed the complaint in March with the OCR after being told by a university official that the university in September had stopped making payments on the leasing of special computer equipment that she was using in her computer classes.

Carnell said that later in March she was told by a university official that the university would pay the money owed since last September and continue making payments through March.

"Last week, I was told that they would pay until the end of the semester."

Said Carnell, "As far as I can see, they are coming across with different stories."

Carnell said she has never received any official notification from university officials throughout the entire incident.

"I want something from Dr. Spicer or somebody above Dr. Spicer telling me what is going on, and I'm not going to be satisfied until I get it," she said.

Spicer said the university would continue leasing the special computer equipment until similar computer equipment can be purchased and set up on campus.

The equipment will be set up in a special room, probably in Johnson Hall where computer classes are now held. "It will be ready for the fall (semester)," said Spicer.

The university began leasing the special computer equipment for use by Carnell in December 1989, Spicer said.

He acknowledged that the university, faced with budgetary woes last fall, did stop making the $170.63 lease payments.

"The money crunch came along and we started to investigate to find out who exactly should be responsible for that (cost of providing special computer equipment)," said Spicer.

"We all want to see Angie get her education and it's just a problem of finding out who is going to pay and who has the responsibility," he remarked.

University officials, he said, felt that the state's vocational rehabilitation agency (in this case, the Bureau for the Blind) should pay the cost of such special equipment and not the university.

Spicer pointed to a federal appeals court ruling in an Illinois case that said that the primary responsibility of providing auxiliary aids should fall on state vocational rehabilitation agencies, which receive federal funds for such purposes.

Roger Tesney, supervisor for the Southeast District of the Bureau for the Blind in Sikeston, said the rehabilitation agency provides assistance to blind and visually impaired persons on the basis of financial need.

But he maintained that the university is ultimately responsible under federal law for providing the necessary equipment for handicapped students and must pay for such equipment when other sources of funding are not available.

"I don't know how we can do it if the student is financially ineligible, according to our guidelines," said Tesney.

"There is certainly not any animosity toward the university," he added. "We feel that the law says it is their responsibility and we are bound by our financial guidelines (which say) that we can't do it."

Spicer said federal civil rights officials have now made it clear that the obligation to provide the necessary equipment falls on the shoulders of the university.

Both Spicer and Carnell agreed that in the long run, it's cheaper to purchase the equipment rather than lease it.

She said the university has already spent more than $2,700 on leasing the equipment compared to an estimated purchase cost of about $4,000.

Carnell said she doesn't understand why the university didn't clarify the issue with the OCR last year rather than simply withholding lease payments on the equipment, which ultimately led to her complaint.

"I think it was really unprofessional the way they (the university) handled the situation," she said.