3 minute read
Students Advocate for Disability Aid
By XINYU JOANNE HU Sun Staff Writer
For the first time in Cornell’s history, students participated in Student Empowerment Day on Feb. 8, rallying in New York State’s Legislative Office in Albany and striving for more state funding for college students with disabilities.
Founded in 2021, Student Empowerment Day gathers college students in New York State to advocate for budgetary support to state legislators. Even with $2.0 million being approved for state funding, the event aims to push for another $13.0 million in funding.
Cyrus Hamilton-Ferguson, assistant director of Student Disability Services, led students’ participation and organized the trip to Albany.
According to Hamilton-Ferguson, New York State hasn’t provided state-level funding specifical ly for college students with disabilities, and universities and colleges are respectively responsible for their stu dent's budgetary support. Several organizations and disability advocacy groups, including New York Coalition of Students with Disabilities in Higher Education, New York State Disability Services Council, CUNY Council on Student Disability Issue, and SUNY Student Assembly, founded the annual event to push for more voices to fill in the gap.
Hamilton-Ferguson said he first heard about the opportunity last October and thought it would be an opportunity that Cornellians definitely should not miss.
“Many [participants], including some of our students, made signs and things like that,” Hamilton-Ferguson said. “One of our students made a sign that said, ‘Disabled, not disposable.’”
With more than 300 people gathering, the size and diverse backgrounds of the participants of the rally impressed HamiltonFerguson.
“Our students, New York State students from two-year colleges, universities, four-year colleges, public schools, private schools [and] indepen dent schools [all participated]… It really matter because this funding affects every single one,”
Hamilton-Ferguson said. “It was amazing to just sort of see them there.”
Along with Hamilton-Ferguson and another Student Disability Services employee, two students joined the rally. As a disabled student, Kate Keresztes ’26 participated in hopes of increasing awareness of disabled people. She felt happy about meeting similar people and celebrating their shared identity, a community that Cornell greatly lacks, according to Keresztes.
“At Cornell, we really don't see any campus highlights on disability communities or any [visible] disability community beyond what we make for ourselves,” Keresztes said. “It is really not encouraged by the college that we [are] visible and proud.”
Keresztes noted Syracuse University has better support for
“Syracuse University has a Disability Cultural Center, and their disability studies program goes very far for not only providing the bare minimum route to attend school, but to be able to fully participate in society and to celebrate who we are and be a significant force on campus,” Keresztes said.
According to Keresztes, the extra state funding could be used to raise awareness of the disability community at Cornell.
“[The funding] could really benefit Cornell in the way that we [develop] disabled cultural spaces and places for disabled people to meet and have social interactions outside of medicalization,” Keresztes said.
A Listing Of Free Campus Events
Scientific Computing Training
9 a.m. - 10 a.m., Virtual Event
Douglass Day 2023 International Transcribe-a-Thon
Noon - 3 p.m., 107 Olin Library
Insights from Indonesia’s Kartu Prakerja Workforce Development Program
With Denni Purbasari, Ph.D.
Noon - 1:30 p.m., G02 Uris Hall
Writing a Data Management and Sharing Plan for Grant Applications
Noon - 1 p.m., 103 Mann Library
Peru, Chile and the Pacific - Toward Collaborative and Parallel Histories
With Joshua Savala, Ph.D.
12:25 p.m. - 1:15 p.m., G08 Uris Hall
Archival Digital Collections and Where to Find Them
3 p.m. - 4 p.m., 106G Olin Library
Publication-Ready Tables Through Coding
3:30 p.m. - 5 p.m., B30B Mann Library
Topics in Public and Ecosystem Health
With Sebastian Heilpern, Ph.D.
4 p.m. - 5 p.m., LH1 Schurman Hall
Bio-Inspired 3D Electronic Microfliers With Jin-Tae Kim, Ph.D.
4 p.m. - 5 p.m., B11 Kimball Hall
Tomorrow
Love Data Week at Cornell Veterinary College
11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m., College of Veterinary Medicine Atrium
Cornell University Virtual Spring Career Fair
Noon - 5 p.m., Virtual Event
Building Agricultural Research Ecosystems With Eugenia Saini, Ph.D.
12:25 p.m. - 1:15 p.m., 135 Emerson Hall
Get Ready for the Great Backyard Bird Count Free Q&A Webinar
1 p.m. - 2 p.m., Virtual Event
Putting Generalized Symmetries to Work for Particle Physics With Seth Koren, Ph.D. 2 p.m., Virtual Event
Sustainable Land Use Futures With Alexander Popp, Ph.D.
3 p.m., A106 Corson/Mudd Hall
Can Democracy Exist Without Borders? With Simon Parker, Ph.D.
4:30 p.m. - 6 p.m., G08 Uris Hall
Introduction to Bloomberg
4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m., 103 Mann Library
The Great Upheaval With Judith A. Byfield, Ph.D.
4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m., 107 Olin Library
