TL20060914-08 "The Towerlight September 14, 2006 8 news New disability chair looks to alter path of department Rachel Frederick Assistant News Editor Susan Willemin, the new direc-tor for Disability Support Services, wants to have �movement in a different direction� within the department to correspond with the changes occurring on campus. Willemin worked at the University for eight years as a Learning Disabilities Specialist before she took on her new role this month. She was the only Towson employ-ee to apply for the position in a nationwide search. She is replacing former director Ronni Uhland, who left Towson in July. �The heart of what we do is work with students individually,� Willemin said. �It is our strength.� She plans to focus more on the quality of services provided especially with the growth of the University. She also wants to raise con-sciousness, and to that end this fall a new student-run group called Active Minds will help to promote mental health awareness. �I think it will normalize the experience [with mental health issues],� Willemin said. Active Minds �brings it out into the open which I think will be good because it will not be so hidden, it will be more accepted.� This spring, DSS will bring Chad Crittenden from the hit reality tele-vision show �Survivor� to campus for a lecture. Crittenden suffered from a rare form of cancer and now has an amputated leg. Willemin explained that any-one can become disabled and the speaker will help bring this point out into the open. �Everyday in life we all have challenges,� Willemin said. �It wouldn�t be so scary if we thought we could be accepted if we became disabled.� Willemin also wants to make changes that people normally would not notice. �I�m looking for changes for all people, not just for people with disabilities,� Willemin said. �For example, instead of having a sepa-rate note-taker for a person with a disability, the notes could be put online to benefit everyone.� This change could possibly ben-efit students that have a learning disability, students that have hear-ing difficulties or even students that speak English as a second language. �I think Towson does a really nice job to make people feel welcome and to engage in activities outside of the classroom,� Willemin said. �There are physical barriers, pro-gram barriers, and attitude barriers that we still need to work on.� She pointed out that subtle changes in language and in con-versation make a huge difference in feelings of acceptance from all people. �I wish people would be more aware by looking at things from a disability viewpoint,� she explained. �For example, we could say �wheelchair-user� or �student with a disability� instead of �handi-capped student.� The person should be put first, not the disability.� Along with these new programs and changes, services already in place will be reviewed by a commit-tee of students and faculty starting in January. The services will be evaluated according to the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education. Before coming to Towson, Willemin was a learning special-ist at Prince George�s Community College and worked at the U.S Department of Education in the Office of Special Education Programs. She obtained her Bachelor�s degree in Special Education from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a master�s degree in Administration from Johns Hopkins University. �I am really excited,� Willemin said. �I have worked here for a long time and it is nice to be in charge of the changes that I want to see happen.� Disability Support Services is located in the Administration Building, Room 232. For more information call 410- 704-3475. Heidi Greenleaf/The Towerlight Susan Willemin is the new director of disability services. She replaced Ronni Uhland, who left in July. MEMORIAL: Homeland Security expert leads session Other speakers had relatives who were in New York on the day of the attacks, including Sanaullah Kirmani, a Muslim campus ministry member. �The evil that visited our nation that day was an evil which had no origin in any religion,� Kirmani said. �I can say that with a fair amount of certainty that no religion that I know of tells its followers to kill, maim and destroy innocent people.� Following the ceremony, stu-dents added new flowers to the University�s 9/11 memorial garden outside Newell Hall. Among the stu-dents participating was freshman Paige Ruecker, a dance performance major, who felt the ceremony was an important event on campus and decided to attend, despite her busy schedule. �This was such a horrible thing,� she said. �I felt that I needed to take the time to honor and remember the people that died.� The garden was originally plant-ed in 2002 to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the attacks. Krivitzky said planting a garden is a way to create something to remem-ber the victims of 9/11 and that can continue on to later generations. �All of us have a duty to the people that come after us. Unfortunately, on Sept. 11, there were some people who forgot their duty. For us, we have the ability to make a better world and to create rather than destroy,� he said. At 7 p.m. in the Potomac Lounge, some students attended a discussion moderated by William Lahneman, a new assistant professor in the department of political science. A former U.S. naval officer, strategic planner and negotiator, Lahneman shared his expertise in the field of national security. Lahneman replied to the question �Are we safer?� directly. �Yes we are,� he said, but �it�s very complex.� He explained that before 9/11, the intelligence community did not know to look for terrorists. However, �they are looking now, and they�re focus-ing considerably powerful govern-ment ability on looking.� Lahneman said that the states are also stepping up local efforts to identify threats. They are �developing a nation of first responders,� he said. However, Lahneman pointed out that despite all our efforts, �We�re not safe because we can�t prevent all surprise attacks.� Kristen Cahill/The Towerlight Students put plants in the ground outside the Housing and Residence Life offices near Newell Dining Hall in the memorial garden following the ceremony held on Burdick Field at 5:30 p.m. Monday. From page 7 "
