On November 20, the Thompson Rivers University Students’ Union presented a formal submission to the TRU Accessibility Committee, calling on the institution to adopt a campus-wide Accessible Events Framework. This submission highlighted the growing need for consistent standards to ensure that events across the university are accessible, welcoming, and barrier-free for the entire campus community.
“Students consistently tell us that campus events play a huge role in their learning and belonging at TRU,” said Keegan Buckley-Boyer, Accessibility Representative. “When accessibility is treated as optional or handled inconsistently, folks with disabilities are left excluded from meaningful opportunities to learn, engage, and participate.”
TRU currently does not have a centralized, institution-wide policy to guide accessible event planning, leaving the responsibility to individual departments with differing levels of knowledge, capacity, and resources. Without clear expectations or standards, students can face preventable barriers such as unclear accommodation processes, inconsistent communication about accessibility features, and events that overlook essential supports to participate fully.
In our submission, TRUSU recommended the development of a campus-wide policy that would establish baseline accessibility requirements for all events hosted by or on the TRU campus. This work is critical to ensuring equal access to academic enrichment, campus life, and community-building opportunities. Adopting a framework of this scope would represent meaningful progress toward removing systemic barriers and strengthening TRU’s commitment to disability inclusion.
Following the presentation, the TRU Accessibility Committee acknowledged the importance of this proposal and confirmed they would establish a sub-committee working group to begin developing this policy framework. TRUSU is pleased with the Committee’s response and looks forward to seeing the good that will come from this important work.
To see the letter that was presented to the TRU Accessibility Committee, Click the link Below.
Submission Letter
To see other advocacy work the Union has engaged in through the Student Voices program, Click here