The Student Government Association’s handicap accessibility committee petitioned the administration Dec. 13 to take more action toward making the campus universally accessible.

The petition, with 600 signatures representing 10 percent of the student body, included demands for better wheelchair-accessible parking lots, ramps leading into every quad residential hall and doubling the fall 2007 budget for handicap accessibility.

The petition was created after SGA grew frustrated that things weren’t changing, said senior Zack Ford, president of SGA.

“We actually thought asking students to sign a petition where they could see exactly what the problems are was a great way to help students rally behind the issue,” Ford said.

Terry Martinez, director of Student Engagement and Multicultural Affairs, said the petition surprised the administration.

“I am always surprised with petitions because they come across as just throwing demands on the table [that] you can easily walk away from … [as] opposed to engaging in conversation,” she said. “I would prefer an approach that does the latter.”

The administration plans to meet with SGA in the next few weeks to discuss plans to create better accessibility, said Traevena Byrd, director of the Office of Equal Opportunity Compliance.

“All of us need to be educated more about what is specifically going on,” she said. “Then we can come to a place where everyone understands.”