Who is Betsy Barnhart?
Betsy Barnhart, the Associate Dean of Academic from 1990-1999, was the first advocate for in-class disability accommodations at Southwestern.
Traditionally, universities have been elite institutions that only accepted students who met strict academic, economic, cultural, and physical ability criteria, and the few students who made it through those screens were expected to either sink or swim. Unfortunately, Southwestern University was no exception to this pattern, so for most of Southwestern’s history, only a few students were accepted and any student who was accepted either met up to the University’s specific expectations or they left.
Starting in the 1960s, in response to social justice movements seeking to create a more equitable educational system, Southwestern joined many other universities in increasing economic access by offering more financial aid, and increasing cultural access by removing racial and gender discrimination policies. But it took until the mid-1990s for Southwestern to see it as part of its mission to develop structures and processes to provide access for disabled students and neurodivergent students.
This shift in academic structure was led by Betsy Barnhart, who was the Associate Dean of Student Academic Services from 1990 to 1999. After the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) passed in 1991, Southwestern hired Barnhart to develop a system of academic accommodations for disabled and neurodivergent students and make it a part of standard student resources.
As the Associate Dean, Barnhart prioritized student voices and developed several programs in response to student complaints about access. Barnhart led the first satisfaction surveys on campus in an effort to hear from students. Though the first attempt wasn’t successful, satisfaction surveys continue to be a part of our campus culture. “I know that it seems like the administration doesn’t care sometimes,” Barnhart told The Megaphone (February 22, 1996). “But the success of a college depends on its students being satisfied.”
According to Julie Cowley, our current Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, Barnhart was the first administrator on campus to advocate for in-class academic accommodations. Cowley had worked closely with Barnhart upon her arrival in 1996. Around this time, the first ADHD support group would have also been beginning on campus. This support group, ranging from 7 to 10 members, was also led by Betsy Barnhart. They would meet weekly in Mood-Bridwell in order to discuss alternative strategies for improving focus. “Disorders and disabilities are culturally defined… More and more people have to learn about it because it's the law” Barnhart said in an interview with The Megaphone (October 30, 1997).
By 1996, academic accommodations were included in the Student Handbook, which stated, “Students are encouraged to see the Associate Dean to discuss any perceived problems (such as learning disabilities, skill deficiencies, excessive absenteeism, or personal problems) that affect academic performance.”
Students seeking accommodations needed to visit Barnhart’s office on the second floor of Mood Bridwell for various accommodations. According to Julie Cowley, the accommodations process used to be much less formal: “Once the documentation from a professional was received, Betsy would typically work one-on-one with the faculty member to determine what the accommodations in the class would look like.” Cowley said. “In fact, email didn't come on the horizon at Southwestern until 1995ish, so most communications were done in person or in a paper memo sent through campus mail.”
These accommodations included, but were not limited to, the following: Extended time on exams, permission to tape lectures, and the use of a computer for taking notes, assignments, and tests.
A couple of years later, the Faculty Committee on Program Modifications was formed in collaboration with Barnhart. Instead of in-class accommodations, however, this committee gave certain students permission to substitute degree requirements, such as language requirements, in order to accommodate a student’s ability. This is the precursor to a current committee called the Academic Standards Committee.
In addition to working to provide equal access for disabled and neurodivergent students, Barnhart sought to expand the normative conception of Southwestern students in terms of age and life stage, advocating for services for so called “non-traditional students” (students older than the standard 17-23 college demographic, who often lived off-campus and had life partners and children). Thus another program that Barnhart developed in 1995 was Sequel, a directory of non-traditional students. This student-led program sought to provide various resources on campus, such as commuter parking, a covered smoking area, on-campus childcare, and a commuter lounge.
The office that Betsy Barnhart first established over three decades ago to provide direct accommodation services to students would eventually evolve into the office of Academic Success, which became a full-fledged Center when the Prothro Center for Lifelong Learning opened in 2007. Today, academic success accommodations and other academic access services are a much needed and highly valued resource on campus, something that enables people with different bodies and different minds to have access to a Southwestern education.
Academic accommodations have been a crucial step toward making education at Southwestern University more accessible. “Betsy was a very strong advocate with students with disabilities and her work set the stage for what we have now.” Cowley said. Most certainly, Betsy Barnhart’s advocacy left a huge impact as the first administration at Southwestern University to grant academic accommodations to students.
