On William Sears and Ranee Panjabi

In the fall of 2015, Memorial University of Newfoundland student William Sears went public after a confrontation with professor Ranee Panjabi over the use of an assistive listening device. The case was raised repeatedly by interviewees for The Telegram’s accessibility and inclusion series.

Canadian Hard of Hearing Association in Newfoundland and Labrador executive director Leon Mills said it was an unfortunate case.

He has been watching the followup and the university’s review of the Glenn Roy Blundon Centre, also offering his time to a university committee focused on accommodations.

There is a draft policy — a possible revision on the university’s existing accommodations policy — coming in the fall, Mills said.

“I told the committee and I told the president, we wouldn’t be in this pickle if you had followed the policy in the first place. There was nothing wrong essentially with MUN’S accommodations policy. It’s a very good one. It’s just they didn’t follow the policy,” he told The Telegram.

The Newfoundland and Labrador Human Rights Commission is still reviewing the interaction between the university and Sears, so the university and commission are not commenting on the matter.

On more recent work relating to accessibility and inclusion, the university released the report on the review of the Glenn Roy Blundon Centre in November.

The report, by former dean of education Alice Collins, provided recommendations to improve student supports.

A progress report released in March noted working groups were formed for follow-up. A renovation to the support centre is to be completed by the fall, an update of the centre’s website is in the works, and a digital upgrade is coming to help the centre better gather and track records, generate accommodation letters and schedule appointments.