EDITORIAL: Walking Hawks moves out of step with UHCL’s core values
Background
The UHCL University Staff Association sent an email April 8 to all UHCL staff members announcing a new health and wellness initiative sponsored by the Office of the President. The announcement was sent to students April 12. There was no mention of Campus Recreation and Wellness (CRW) in the announcement or subsequent promotional materials, and the department confirmed it is not involved in the initiative or its programming.
The announcement welcomed all staff, faculty and students to participate in “Walking Hawks,” a casual opt-in program taking place daily from noon to 1 p.m. or 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. The university designated two paths, the third floor of the Bayou Building and the new Bike and Hike trail, while also encouraging participants to choose additional locations.
Participants who signed up early received Walking Hawks branded T-shirts, fanny packs and water bottles. As the program began, correspondence was initially sent from Miguel Torres on behalf of the office of the president. By May 18, emails came from WalkingHawks@uhcl.edu, an official email created for the program.
While the ableist language in the name and promotional materials for the program is discouraging to students, staff and faculty members with disabilities, the lack of an accessibility accommodation statement in all promotional materials makes the program appear openly discriminatory, regardless of intention. Furthermore, the sign-up form linked on flyers and in emails contains no accommodation statement or field for new members to request accommodations if needed.
Accessibility accommodation statement for events & programs
The Office of Student Involvement and Leadership (OSIL) is responsible for approving print flyers before departments and student organizations post them on bulletin boards and in display cases around campus. Approvals last for one month from the date of approval, after which flyers may be removed or replaced with newer ones. Once approved for posting, OSIL affixes an approval stamp including the date of approval on each flyer. OSIL will not approve flyers for programs and events sponsored by departments or organizations within UHCL without the following accessibility accommodation statement:
“Any person needing an accommodation for a disability in order to participate should contact {include your office, department, student org, or group name} at {include your phone number} or {include your email} at least one week prior to the event to arrange for the accommodation.”
The current Walking Hawks flyers posted around campus have neither the accommodation statement nor the OSIL-approved stamps. UHCL Marketing and Communications typically develops and/or approves promotional materials for initiatives like Walking Hawks. The brand guide includes example flyers for departments on campus that state:
“Disability statement must be included. Any person needing an accommodation for a disability to participate in this program should contact [office] at 281-xxx-xxxx or xxxx@uhcl.edu at least one week prior to arrange for the accommodation.”
It is a long-standing practice across campus that this statement is included on the promotional flyer of any event or program, and this is a notable exception to that practice given the origin of the initiative.
UHCL lists service, diversity and inclusion among the institution’s core values on its website alongside its mission, vision and goals. While these core values demonstrate the virtues of the university as set forth by faculty, staff and students across campus during the strategic planning process, the Walking Hawks program exhibits university leaders moving out of step with their own constituency.
“We welcome students, staff, faculty, and partners from different nationalities, races, ethnicities, ages, religions, genders, sexual orientations, and physical abilities into our family and values identity through the lens of intersectionality.”
Service is also listed as a core value:
“UHCL is committed to community values, partnerships and collaboration. We create a service culture among faculty, staff, and students. UHCL maintains strong sustainable relationships by engaging various stakeholders to achieve mutual goals and objectives.”
Inclusion
The name “Walking Hawks” is not inclusive to community members with limited or no ability to walk, stand or move their legs. Encouraging the community to “Get up, Get out and Get moving” is well-intentioned; however, UHCL is an institution that prides itself on inclusion as a core value, specifically those of all abilities. All the while, leadership fails when naming and promoting campus-wide initiatives and breaking the long-held best practice of placing the accessibility accommodations statement on program and event flyers posted around campus. Aug. 9, Walking Hawks announced that each Friday at 5:30 p.m. they will host a “Friday Walkaholics” event, further demonstrating a lack of care in promotional language.
Walking is by no means the only way to practice wellness or stay healthy, so why does this initiative stop at that? Guidance and collaboration from professionals in health and wellness on campus would ideally expand the horizons of this initiative to be more inclusive and encourage collaboration across campus in better alignment with the aforementioned values.
The university administration says that a core value is their commitment to community partnerships and collaboration. They are not using the vast human resources of this institution’s various departments to advance this initiative beyond just walking. The university is capable of creating a more comprehensive and inclusive initiative that recognizes the wide variety of lifestyle choices that can be made to practice health and wellness but is choosing not to. If the value of service is to “maintain strong sustainable relationships by engaging various stakeholders to achieve mutual goals and objectives” then why is the Office of the President not doing so with stakeholders on campus?
Service and Collaboration
The initiative should partner with CRW to leverage their expertise and access to a broad spectrum of services and resources pertaining to exercise, nutrition and holistic wellness, and to promote the CRW to community members. Why is the indoor track in the campus rec center not one of the pre-selected routes? The lack of collaboration with CRW on a campus-wide health and wellness initiative is particularly shocking given the alignment of the department’s goals with Walking Hawks’.
Faculty experts in nutrition, exercise, anatomy and physiology, biology and other applicable sciences could be collaborative partners for programs or panels offering knowledge to the community in alignment with this initiative. Counseling Services’ staff or psychology faculty should have a place in promoting mental health and wellness as part of the initiative as well but are noticeably not included in any aspect.
The initiative could promote healthy eating and highlight efforts to fight food insecurity in the community like the Hawk Food Pantry and the Food For Change food scholarship. It could encourage campus leadership and students to volunteer with the Houston Food Bank and Office of Student Advocacy on their grocery distribution days. The possibilities for programming a ‘Healthy’ Hawks initiative are endless given the on-campus resources already available.
The staff, faculty and students of this campus deserve a health and wellness initiative that is inclusive, collaborative and recognizes the multi-faceted nature of health and wellness, not one created in a one-size-fits-all vacuum by the Office of the President.
Reflections & Recommendations
It is alarming to consider that the Office of the President created a new program culminating in an event involving the vice presidents for Student Affairs, Academic Affairs, Administration and Finance, Enrollment Management, and University Advancement without any of them noticing or publicly speaking out about the lack of alignment with university values demonstrated by this program.
Moreover, Aaron Hart, vice president of student affairs, sent an email May 26 addressed to “Walking Hawks Students” seeking students who would register Walking Hawks as a recognized student organization through OSIL. As of Aug. 13, Walking Hawks has not yet applied to become a recognized student organization.
This attempt to hot-potato the program into the hands of students shows a lack of commitment to the initiative on behalf of university leadership, demonstrates their detachment from potential collaborators on campus, and exacerbates a lack of adhesion to their own core values in this new health and wellness initiative.
Although the future of Walking Hawks remains unclear, the system that allowed this initiative to come out with these problems is still in place. As such, it would be wise of administrators to not create campus-wide initiatives without support and collaboration across the campus. Furthermore, it would benefit them to ensure that future initiatives, programs and events align with the core values of the university.
Marketing and Communications should seek out training for inclusive language and follow best practices to diminish ableist language in all promotional materials. Additionally, they should implement a university-wide policy to ensure event flyers and graphics always offer accommodations to those who may need them.
If student organizations and departments are responsible for making accommodations for students, the least the Office of the President could do is maintain that standard. The most they could do is follow their core values and create a multi-faceted health and wellness initiative that utilizes the vast resources and expertise of the institution to benefit the entire community.
