'Second-class citizen': Friday Conference Center missing accessible ramps, push buttons

On his way to attend a June 9 conference at UNC's Friday Conference Center, Steven Hardy-Braz was met with an obstacle. He couldn’t get up onto the sidewalk.

There was no curb ramp in the general parking lot to allow wheelchair users like Hardy-Braz to access the path. 

This isn’t the Friday Center’s only inaccessibility. There is no signage near the building’s inaccessible north entrance directing disabled visitors to the accessible, main entrance on the south side. The Grumman Auditorium stage also lacks a wheelchair ramp.

During his prior visits to the center for the Vision Zero Network and BikeWalk NC traffic safety conferences, Hardy-Braz said he also noticed a general lack of accessible entrances and door push buttons. In one instance, he said he was trapped in a bathroom until someone could open the door for him.

In emails to the University Compliance Office, Hardy-Braz wrote he felt like a “second-class citizen.” He wrote that it “broke his heart” to see ramps and other features had not been added since his previous informal complaints to UCO, the first of which he sent in 2023.

He said it seems like visitors with disabilities are not being considered if they have to advocate for their ability to safely access a sidewalk.

“It's not a fight for equity or equal services,” Hardy-Braz said. "It's a fight for just mere access."

Tiffany Bailey, director of equal opportunity and the ADA coordinator for the UCO, wrote in a September email to Hardy-Braz that there is a sidewalk ramp from the Friday Center’s accessible parking lot. But, she wrote, if this lot is full, there are no other options.

“These barriers are being addressed as [a] larger barrier assessment removal plan for the University,” Bailey wrote to Hardy-Braz. “Currently, the Friday Center is actively engaged in conversations related to accessibility, including push buttons, signage and parking.”

As a recipient of federal funding, UNC is required to abide by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, both of which require those with disabilities to be given an equal opportunity to benefit from programs, services and activities offered by the University.

“The University is committed to compliance with the ADA, and members of the campus community are encouraged to report access barriers to the University Compliance Office,” UNC Media Relations wrote in an email to The Daily Tar Heel. “When physical barriers exist and need remediation, the University Compliance Office is available to assist individuals with disabilities to ensure their access to the University’s programs.”

UNC is currently reviewing Hardy-Braz’s latest complaint, they wrote.

Hardy-Braz said over the past two years, he reported accessibility issues to the Friday Center and the University multiple times, to no avail. 

“We've had 50-some-odd years to address these things,” he said. “Why does it require a person with a disability to then raise it to their attention and still kind of get, you know, put in the hopper for some day?”

The Friday Center is not the only source of accessibility complaints the University has received in recent years.

Last October, multiple UNC students with physical disabilities found themselves unable to enter and exit campus buildings due to temporary security measures impacting accessible entrances. In September, there were also complaints that University emergency procedures were not accommodating for students with physical and neurological disabilities.

“I think, especially in terms of physical accessibility, that UNC is behind where a lot of other colleges are,” Kira Tiller, a UNC sophomore and the co-chair of the UNC Disability Advocates Committee, said. 

The DAC is a student-led accessibility advocacy organization on campus that is part of the Campus Y. This fall, Tiller said the DAC will work closely with UNC's Student Government on initiatives to fix accessibility issues and increase awareness, including a disabled students' bill of rights.

“I just think it's so important that we're in those conversations with administration and our voices are heard, because if we're not speaking about these things, the University isn't going to act on these things,” she said.

The student group also plans to address housing accessibility for disabled students and will push for a ramp at the Bell Tower, similar to that of the Old Well. Tiller said that central parts of campus still being inaccessible in 2025 sends a poor message to disabled students.

“I think it really sends the message that accessibility is an afterthought, rather than a priority, at UNC,” Tiller said.

CLARIFICATION: A previous version of this article did not clearly state that the Friday Conference Center's main and accessible entrance is located on the southern side of the building, and the inaccessible entrance on the north.

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