Help Corinne Fight Disability Discrimination

#Giveherthatdiploma

Update 2: Serious issues. Mere days before I left campus, after endless emails, the college said they would let me "make up the credit" online and cover the cost. I should not have to make up any credits, I should have my gaurantee of a diploma. They are also refusing to remove the F from my transcript, and to address the other grades related to prohibited disability discrimination (such as a course where I completed all work at passing level, was ruled as having completed the class, and they refused to change my grade, giving me an F for a class I was ruled as having passed) or the problematic ways I was told repeatedly that I must drop my Biology major because I was disabled, and told to switch to Black Studies instead. I am now full force fundraising for a private lawyer in the hopes of proper resolutions to this situation, as the federal courts are currently on hiatus. I have been beyond disgusted by the ways I have been ignored and treated as worthless during this process, and cannot in good conscience reccomend any student of color or anyone with a disability attend Middlebury when this is how those who raise serious issues of verifiable discrimination interfering with their education are treated. I am working this week on a podcast explaining the depths of the horrors and illegal discrimination I have endured.

Update: With only days left until graduation, I found out yesterday from the Middlebury Civil Rights Title IX Office after being forced to wait for weeks that there is nothing Middlebury will do to help me graduate, even if I am able to prove the repeated discrimination I have encountered. After hearing my story, the local NAACP president even kindly asked to talk to the college leadership advocating for me, but she was rejected. I am now asking those who know me to donate if they can, as well as reaching out to Middlebury Alumni or donors who they may know to share my story, especially those who are Black or Disabled, as well as those with member affiliation to BSU, PALANA, Weybridge, Community Council, or the Mill.

Preventing a Black and Disabled Biology student who has been treated horrifically from graduating at the start of Black History Month, over a single credit, is a decision that while personally deeply painful, at the end of the day is a decision that speaks volumes about Middlebury College and how they treat their most vulnerable students. No college that stands by the values of inclusion and equity that Middlebury says they are proud to uphold would allow any student to be treated the way I have been. The time has come to right these wrongs.

It's time for me to graduate. You have the power to make it happen. And If you think you don't, I promise you know someone who knows someone who does. And I need your help having them hear me.

Original post:

Hi! I'm a Super Senior Feb (originally '24) Environmental Studies-Biology Major at Middlebury who is supposed to graduate this February. This GofundMe is for legal and other expenses in the hopes that I am able to keep my graduation date and hopefully change the way students like me are treated at Middlebury.

I chose Middlebury because I wanted a small, highly academic, supportive environment. While I've been very lucky in many of the amazing opportunities I've had here (where else could I live in an Academic Food House, join an improv troupe, get paid to photograph insects and learn about climate change, and still be surrounded by other foreign language enthusiasts?), my experiences being disabled here have unfortunately been really awful.

This semester, I had a horrific experience in what should have been a simple course- Cell Biology (an entry biology course), where I was repeatedly ignored in my requests to use my existing accommodations and my requests to have adequate accommodations by both my professors and the Disability Resource Center (DRC).

I don’t yet know which of these experiences are explicitly illegal (though many seem to toe the line), but they are certainly not how any disabled student, and especially not a Middlebury student in their last semester, deserves to be treated.

I spent months being ignored and shamed both for needing disability accomodations (scolded for not being able to do "simple" assignments in same amount of time as others due to my vision issues) and for asking for perfectly reasonable requests such as to be able to still submit work after I had become severely ill with whooping cough ("Everyone else in this class was able to make (assignment/quiz) work except for you, Corinne").

Even simple assignments- such as the first lab report, a short effort-based assignment (100% for trying) designed to introduce students to scientific writing- became unfairly difficult for me, as I was told that not only could I not use the one from my last enrollment in this class (which I was forced to late drop as they problematically considered fully accommodating me after a concussion unfair to other students), but informed that if any of the sentences were the same between the old and new report, both on the same expirement, I now risked being EXPELLED due to "self plagiarization." When I, quite reasonably, as someone who struggles with screens asked for extra time to complete this now difficult task (there are only so many ways to write about flagella), this request was initially granted. When it came time to submit the assignment and I had to use my accommodations, I was told I could not and would get an F. The professor denied ever telling me I could have extra time, though I have evidence of that conversation. This effort based assignment then became months of emails and conversations, culminating in her telling me harshly in front of other people "You're just confused, I'm so sorry you're so confused, I would never say that."

I was falsely told it was a serious departmental rules violation to talk to the TAs outside of TA hours, and repeatedly ignored when I pointed out I was unable to access any of the existing TA hours due to my disability.

The lecture professor allowed me to zoom into lecture when I became ill, but ignored every email I sent trying to be able to take the quizzes happening in class (which I asked to be able to take the very next day), and made bizarre requests about submitting late homework, such as telling me by submitting it I agreed to not use my accommodations for the rest of the semester, a deeply problematic request as I don’t get to pick and choose when I am disabled. My questions about these stipulations were ignored by the DRC.

This professor, already in a situation of extreme power due to also being the Dean of Curriculum, later justified ignoring my emails for months by saying she didn’t feel she knew me as a person well enough, I hadn't told her enough about my disability (not required) and that students like me who have this many problems in a semester usually leave Middlebury, so she didn’t know how to handle me.

To say I was horrfied by this suggestion by the Dean of Curriculum that I should have simply "left" my final semester at college if I was going to be both ill and disabled would be an understatement.

She also accused me of being "hostile" towards her over an email where I had expressed confusion as to why she would not allow me to reschedule a midterm after I had explicitly told her in advance that I would be unable to see at the time it was scheduled, asking to take it the day before or day after the scheduled date. As a Black woman, I understandably take accusations of hostility very seriously, and am happy to share this email with anyone who wishes to see it.

When I was finally able to connect with the DRC, they confirmed many of my suspicions about my accommodations not being usable, but told me "nothing could be done retroactively" a phrase that I now know applies to when students don't have accommodations, but NOT AT ALL when their existing accommodations are ignored or denied.

Near the end of the semester, after initially reaching out when the DRC started ignoring me in early October, I successfully connected with a disability rights attorney through a Vermont non profit. Though she was limited in how much she could help, what she did recommend, that under state laws, I should be able to get an incomplete to ensure my graduation- was rejected by the school.

After countless delays meeting with the professors, the head dean, and the DRC, I was treated as though since I had waited so long to meet with them (they had ignored and canceled previous meeting requests) that I had been a horrible student who was unfairly asking for special privileges and deserved the way I was being treated, with both professors saying I was potentially being unfair to other students. When I, and a person supporting me, said surely there must be a way to ensure I get at least a D in this class, given how much effort I had put into it (attending weekly 3 hour labs even while severely ill), I was treated as though that was a preposterous ask.

I was told after countless delays (of many weeks) on a verdict as to whether I would be able to submit missing work where I had been told I could not use my accommodations, for full credit or a small penalty (as opposed to the 50% (F) I was told I would get), an option that would have raised my lab grade to 80% or higher, that rather than work being allowed, my entire grade would now just be the final lecture exam. Many lecture sections of this same course have no final exam, or allow corrections on all exams, which this section did not.

The lecture professor herself called having the final be my full lecture grade "Cruel of her" and specifically said "well, what if you have a bad day?" But said the only other option was to fail me, citing "fairness," despite having significant power within the college and me being the only student in my final semester in the class.

I was informed of this decision that this final would now be both my lecture and lab grade mere days before the exam.

I had just come down with flu, and once again on the advice of a Vermont legal aid attorney, pushed to not have to take the final with the flu, an especially rough prospect as illness severely exacerbates my brain injury symptoms and I was really sick.

Had I been able to use my accommodations throughout the semester, there is no doubt that I would have been granted an incomplete and been able to either come to a more equitable solution for my final grade or at least been able to take the final over J-term.

I was told I had no choice, and in the end took the final while still very ill. Being quite ill and in no shape to do anything, certainly not a final, I did embarrassingly poorly on this exam.

I don’t think it's right to subject me to a jury of my peers, especially when so many of the questions of this semester are around disability accomodations, which despite the many horrifically shameful conversations I was subjected to this semester, are legally speaking, not supposed to be based on if others consider them to be fair.

But generally speaking, my Middlebury peers have supported me and stood up for me at times when I was too scared to do so myself, and at times when no one would listen to me no matter how hard I tried. I fear this is one of those times.

I think it's clear that this semester in this course, I was not even given the typical decency afforded a student in their final semester who becomes ill, much less treated in a respectful and kind manner. I also spent so much time this semester feeling like a terrible person and an awful burden for being disabled and for still staying in this course, as I was told at every turn that I was hurting other students with my requests to be able to have an equal opportunity to pass the class. My lab professor would also make constant comments in class about students who think it's okay to turn things in at the last moment while privately shaming me for attempting to do so, even when it was necessary due to disability and allowed in my accommodations. Though embarrasing to admit, my treament in this course and lack of support made me feel as though I was constantly on trial for the crime of being disbled and ill, and after October, I, as a senior biology joint major, started having daily panic attacks and woke up everyday feeling immensely terrified and guilty about cell biology.

After reading former president Laurie Pattons recent email about the peace bench, I am hopeful that the Middlebury community can support me in my search to find a solution and be able to graduate at the end of J-term.

I am also hopeful to be able to be able to afford adequate legal representation or funds to be supported as Black and Disabled student during Black History Month to address this class and the many other times I gave been mistreated due to my disabilities at this school, so that I can stop fighting this fight on my own, because I'm so incredibly tired.

If you feel daunted by the scrutiny that often comes with uncomfortable conversations at Middlebury, please feel free to donate anonymously, as any amount truly does help.

Thank you! Here's to an equitable 2025!

Funds may be used for the following reasons: Legal expenses, lost wages, travel expenses, paying audio transcriptionists, events in support of me (Corinne), as well as social media advertisements and advocacy so my story is able to be heard. Thank you.