Student to serve on disability committee
Junior Greg Chase will serve a one-year term on Columbia's Disability Commission.
Published Aug. 23, 2005
City Clerk Sheela Amin swore in the first student nominated to the city's Disability Commission on Monday.
Junior Greg Chase was sworn in at the Boone County Municipal Building. Chase will serve one year as a replacement for another board member.
He has spent one week for the past several summers as a referee for the Stan Makita Hockey School for the Hearing Impaired in Chicago. He also coached Down syndrome hockey players when he lived in Colorado, he said
Locally, Chase works with Push America, which aids people with disabilities, through his fraternity, Pi Kappa Phi. Chase also works with VSA Arts, a non-profit organization that helps people with disabilities create artwork.
"I've been an advocate for people with disabilities all my life," Chase said. "I don't know why I feel so strongly about it because I can't say that I've had anyone in my family with severe disabilities. It is such an honor to be selected to serve."
The commission advises the mayor and the City Council on anything regarding disabilities relating to the city and how the city functions, commission member Mike Peplow said.
Peplow works for MU at Information and Access Technology Services by adapting technology for people with disabilities. He said Chase's involvement with the committee could help the university recruit students with disabilities.
"The perspective of a student will be helpful to the committee in terms of what students are interested in, even with something as trivial as making bars or Greektown more accessible," Peplow said.
The commission includes seven members with disabilities, two local business owners and three people who have experience providing services for people with disabilities, according to the commission's Web site.
Chase applied for the position and provided several references to get on the committee. One of his references, professor of journalism Jim Sterling, said he has known Chase for one-and-a-half years and admired the work he has done with the alumni board and the Missouri Student Association.
"Chase is a bright young guy and always does a good job representing students' concerns," Sterling said. "Having student representation when you have around 28,000 students in the area is an important voice to have."
Last year, both Sterling and Chase appeared before the House Higher Education Committee in February to speak out against the bill proposal that would rename Southwest Missouri State University as Missouri State University. Both came under fire after Chase introduced himself as Rep. Gayle Kingery, R-Poplar Bluff, and asked Kingery how it felt for his name to be stolen. Sterling accused Gov. Matt Blunt of withholding funds from MU if UM system President Elson Floyd did not agree to the name change. In the end, the bill passed through the legislature and the name change will go into effect Aug. 28.
"Greg has had some controversy in the past with the name change, but he's worked with us in the past and done very well," said Ted Farnen, the chief of staff for Sen. Chuck Graham, D-Columbia. "Also, the City Council and the state government aren't really the same thing."
Chase has already discussed having forums on campus with student organizations and has scheduled a meeting with MSA's Student Affairs Committee. He said he also plans to spend a day in a wheelchair sometime in September so he can identify problem areas around campus and better relate to people with disabilities.