Auburn University strives to provide equal opportunities for all of its students, including those students bound to wheelchairs. However, only one of the Auburn University Department of Public Safety's security shuttles is wheelchair accessible.
The department added a wheelchair-accessible van to its fleet in the spring of 2011, and as of now, they do not plan to add more.
When not in use, the van stays parked at the department's office building on Magnolia Avenue.
The van can hold two wheelchairs, up to six other passengers and operates like the other security shuttles.
Students call the same number as the other vans, but must let the operator know the wheelchair-accessible van is needed.
Handicapped students feel more than one wheelchair-accessible shuttle should be available on Auburn's campus.
"A possible solution would be for them to add more buses that are wheelchair friendly," said Auburn wheelchair basketball team member Taylor Wright.
According to Philip Crain, graduate student and member of the wheelchair basketball team, the wheelchair-accessible van is not well known on campus, even to those in wheelchairs.
"There's enough of us on campus in chairs that could use it," Crain said. "We need to make it more well known and maybe they would consider adding more."
Lt. Keith Walton of the Auburn Public Safety Department said it doesn't feel the need to add more vans because of low use.
"We've had this vehicle for three years and we probably don't have but about 1,200 or 1,300 miles on it," Walton said.
However, Crain said he disagrees with the department's decision and said he feels an accessible van should always be available.
"It doesn't matter if it's going to be used or not because there's always the potential for it to be," Crain said. "Ideally, I would like them all to be accessible."
Jared Rhem, Office of Accessibility employee, said the University should try to make everything accessible from the beginning.
The public safety department occasionally allows organizations on campus to rent the van.
"We've had a couple of departments that had students that needed wheelchair access and we have let the department use that van," Walton said.
Because the wheelchair-accessible van is sometimes rented out, there is concern a student in a wheelchair could be put in a situation where avan would not be available.
"There needs to be more than one," Crain said. "My problem is, what do you do if that bus, for whatever reason, isn't operational or available?"
No wheelchair-bound student has been put in this situation, but Wright said he feels the system could be more dependable.
"If there is only one, it would make sense that the bus system is unreliable for a wheelchair user," Wright said.
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