Some military students at the University of Alaska UAA’s current attendance Anchorage claim they're policy states: "Students having to choose between participating in official mandatory duties and intercollegiate activities on university class attendance -- behalf of UAA, including but a choice they say could be not limited to competition in avoided. athletics, forensics and For the last eight years, performing arts, are SSgt. Nichole Tovar has been responsible for making serving in the Army Reserves, advance arrangements with and for three of those years faculty members to enable she says she had no trouble them to meet course balancing Army duty and requirements. Faculty are classes at UAA. That all encouraged to make reasonable changed this semester, when accommodations for such Tovar says she had to choose students. In some cases between required military accommodations may not be training and a final exam. possible.” When she approached the dean Bruce Schults, UAA’s vice about the situation, Tovar chancellor for student says the next day her affairs, says the policy professor singled her out, means faculty are not displaying Tovar's emails in required to accommodate any front of her peers. certain group. “I felt like I was being “There are some situations picked on after that, when where it's just not she called me up to the front acceptable for students to of the class and explained to miss a class, and to have a the class, ‘This lady here is blanket policy that doesn't trying to reschedule [her seem feasible,” said Schultz. final] -- look at her,’” said Tovar. Tovar says there needs to be a policy in place to prevent The university says that was what she experienced from an isolated incident and the happening to anyone else. situation has been dealt with, but Tovar says it made her “I don’t see a problem with realize there was no five days max or something to protection for the 1,300 that effect, that if we get military students attending called away to duty we don’t UAA. have to be scared we're going Tammy Cartwright, the to lose all that time we president of the UAA Veterans invested at UAA,” said Tovar. Club, says there needs to be more awareness of the unique Schultz says the university situation facing military fully supports military students. students and has services available that are growing, “Other students like athletes, like counseling. they have the ability to pre- register before the pre- Joint Base Elmendorf- register and military Richardson’s chief of students don’t have that education services and option,” Cartwright said. “So training says it's up to each a lot of times when they go individual school to to sign up for classes, a lot determine what, if any, of them are closed, and when protections and special they don’t have a certain accommodations are afforded amount of credits then they to military members. don’t get their GI Bill or Contact Christine Kim at they can’t continue on.” ckim@ktuu.com
Tags: Accommodations, Military, Question, students
