This semester, Facilities Services installed a wheelchair ramp at the second entrance of the Mago Hunt Center Theater, improving accessibility to the theater for both students and attendees. The decision to renovate the space was prompted by the advocacy efforts of junior Shane Ruyle, an active participant in UP’s theater program and full-time wheelchair user.
According to Ruyle, the lack of a ramp caused him to face significant barriers in accessing key locations in the theater, leading him to voice his concerns to Facilities Services.
“[Before the addition of the ramp] there was zero accessible access to the stage at all,” Ruyle said. “There was no way to get to the dressing rooms, or costume shop, or the stage, and the only place that you could get to was the upper-level wheelchair seating in the audience.”
According to an email from Director of Facilities Services Joe Cates, the ramp installation is one of various smaller-scale projects to address campus accessibility issues. In 2024, the second floor of Buckley Center faced renovations, which included switching door knobs to levers.
Cates notes that modernizing older buildings like Mago Hunt, which was constructed before the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was enacted, presents logistical and financial challenges for the university.
“Entirely dependent upon the project, [the cost] could be tens of thousands [of dollars] — could be millions,” Cates said. “Retrofitting older buildings can be especially challenging as they weren’t designed with these improvements in mind.”
Despite these obstacles, Facilities Services remains committed to improving accessibility.
His team worked closely with Ruyle to identify the most accessible area to add the ramp and ultimately selected its location because it was the only spot with enough space for the proper slope without creating new safety hazards.
While Cates acknowledges the ramp is a small step toward addressing more significant accessibility issues on campus, he believes that the change removes key barriers in Mago Hunt and reduces the need for performance-related accommodations.
Facilities Services is also exploring long-term solutions to accessibility concerns on campus.
According to Cates, they are considering a comprehensive campus-wide accessibility audit. This would involve hiring a consultant to evaluate UP’s facilities and recommend improvements and would help Facilities Services develop a strategic plan to address accessibility needs across campus.
“It is a work in progress,” Cates said. “We’ll continue to gather information to make an informed decision on the best path forward.”
For Ruyle, these changes are just the beginning of a long journey to make all of campus accessible.
“There's a limited scope of ways that you could do activities for fun as a disabled person at UP,” Ruyle said. “And it's really cool that theater is becoming more accessible — and along with improving our infrastructure, we also have to improve our programming.”
Tiffany Marquez Escobar is the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Editor for The Beacon. She can be reached at marqueze25@up.edu.
Julianna Pedone is the News and Managing Editor for The Beacon and contributed to this story. She can be reached at pedone25@up.edu.
