Valley College Gyms Called Separate, Unequal : Discrimination: Policy bars disabled students from modern fitness center. Federal law is violated, state officials say.

Many of Valley College’s 140 disabled students are protesting their lack of access to a fitness center--not because of wheelchair ramps or heavy doors but because of campus policy.

Disabled students say that four years after the school opened a spacious new athletic center with state-of-the-art equipment and piped-in music, they remain segregated in a makeshift gym nearby, a crowded old classroom lacking even the barest of amenities.

“As it is right now, you’ve got the normal people over there and we’ve got the freaks over here,” said student Wayne Craft, who leads a campaign to publicize the inequities and demand access to the modern gym.

His efforts may produce some results. Officials in the state Department of Rehabilitation call the situation a clear-cut violation of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and said they plan to talk with college officials about remedies.

“It reminds me of the Old South with the separate drinking fountains for whites and blacks,” said Mike Paravagna, who oversees the department’s disabilities consulting section.

“When you see a violation that’s this far out there,” Paravagna said, “there are probably other issues that need to be looked at too.”

College officials acknowledge that they have known of the gym’s disparities for years, but contend that they have no segregation policy. They said that the new fitness center features a rigorous cardiovascular training program requiring rapid movement around a course of machines, and that students must pass a physical test to use the equipment.

But most disabled students are unable to pass the qualifying exam, in effect barring them from using the entire fitness center, said Jim Gayton, the instructor at the old gym.

College officials also say they have been unable to find the money to improve the disabled students’ gym, which lacks air conditioning and showers and has equipment that is 20 years old. The new fitness center, which opened in 1991 and is used by about 1,100 students, cost between $150,000 and $250,000.

Even if the two gyms were comparable, federal regulations protecting the rights of disabled people promote integration over separate-but-equal arrangements.

But there has been no apparent, official effort to have disabled students participate in the new gym’s cardiovascular workout, or to set aside time for them to use the machines at their own pace, said Kathleen Sullivan, associate dean for disabled students.

Paravagna said his staff will pursue those approaches.

Valley College President Tyree Wieder expressed concern that disabled students might injure themselves in the new fitness center and sue the school. But Craft said the risks of injury would be no greater than those in the old gym.

The old gym has no telephone in the event of medical emergencies; no showers, restrooms, drinking fountains or bottled water; not even the workout towels supplied at the new center. It also lacks air conditioning even though, as Gayton noted, many disabled people suffer from poor circulation and are more likely to experience heat stress.

One thing the old gym does have is a pasted-up copy of an October, 1992, editorial and cartoon that appeared in the campus newspaper harshly criticizing the disparities. Its headline: “Disabled students left with crippled facilities.”