University of Michigan-Ann Arbor

In early August, video captured by Walker and shared with the Guardian shows Walker approaching another person who had been recording him from a car. It turned out to be the same man from the Bangladesh protest. The video shows the man acting as thought he is deaf and mute, pretending to use sign language and speaking in an impeded manner. He then starts speaking in a normal voice, and, in an apparent attempt to insult Walker, suggests Walker is a special educational needs student.

In an email, a spokesperson said the university “does not condone or tolerate any behavior by employees or contractors that demeans individuals or communities, including those with disabilities. The comment referenced in the video does not reflect the university’s values or expectations for respectful conduct.”

A few minutes later, Walker walks behind the man, overhearing him telling another investigator that Walker had figured out who he was. The investigator, who is white, then starts screaming that Walker, who is black, was attempting to assault him. “He wants my wallet!” the investigator screams. Walker also captured this incident on video and shared it with the Guardian.

While Brodzik is a senior, they previously attended the University of Houston and the College of Fine Arts in Detroit. Comparing their current experience to their previous one at Houston, where they were directly offered accommodations by the school, Brodzik said they faced much greater pushback from the University of Michigan when trying to obtain accommodations for autism. 

“I was trying to get accommodations and I had to fight with a certain person (in Services for Students with Disabilities) — she was not being helpful,” Brodzik said. “I didn’t have accommodations for the beginning of the semester, so the whole beginning of the semester, I was just fighting with them, trying to get them.”

Although they received accommodations after two appeals, Brodzik explained that the process proved to be more like an interrogation of their disability status than an effort to make the University accessible to them.

“When I met with the advisor at (The University of Houston), she was like ‘here’s some accommodations other autistic people have, would this be helpful for you?’” Brodzik said. “Here it was like, ‘Do you know what you want,’ and then it felt like an interrogation (during) the first meeting. I was supposed to provide all this information about why I needed them, and I was not told that ahead of time, so I was not prepared. It was not a good process in my opinion.”

A University of Michigan cancer researcher repeatedly exhibited "racist,” “misogynistic,” and “xenophobic” behavior toward a female colleague and UM officials did not adequately address her concerns when she complained, according to a federal lawsuit.

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“I am a white guy in the United States and I can do whatever the hell I want and nobody will believe you," Day once told her, according to the suit.

Last year, Guberman served as graduate co-chair of SSD’s Student Advisory Board, a board that bridges the divide between students and SSD. Despite the board’s formal role as advisers for SSD, he said tension arose when students voiced concerns about accommodations issues on campus.

“I was often pulled aside and told that they didn’t appreciate the negativity,” Guberman said. “And frankly, it’s not my responsibility or the students’ responsibility to react positively to an office that clearly — as the students on the board were discussing, meeting after meeting — was not adequately meeting their needs really at capacity.”

As the semester was coming to a close, Peter discovered that the window to take the Econ 101 final overlapped with the prep time needed for his injection procedure, rescheduled due to COVID-19. Within hours he reached out to Dr. Caldwell, explaining his situation and asking simply that the professor open the exam window earlier so that he could take the exam. Mind you, Peter wasn’t asking for more study time, simply asking he be given an opportunity to take the exam before his procedure. Instead of providing this reasonable accommodation, Dr. Caldwell stated that he hoped Peter would “understand that providing alternatives that, as per the syllabus, are not available to the rest of the class is a bit unfair to the other students.”

Naturally, after this disappointing and disheartening experience, Peter filed a grade grievance appeal through the Economics Department. As Peter arrived, via Zoom, at the grievance committee hearing, he was shocked to find the panel was solely made up of colleagues of Dr. Caldwell.

“There was no specialist, the ADA coordinator wasn’t there, no one from OIE (Office of Institutional Equity) was there, no one from SSD was there, no one versed in the ADA was there … the professors were referring to Dr. Caldwell by nicknames, it all felt very out of place,” Peter reflected.