“Binghamton University Abuses Disabled Students.”
This message greeted commuters outside of BU this past Monday, on a sign held by protesters Michelle Hami, a junior majoring in political science, and Walter Neville, 59, from Greene. Hami and Neville were protesting Hami’s mislabeling by Student Accounts as an out-of-state resident, causing her to be unable to afford her education and unable to enroll in classes for the spring semester.
Hami is a nontraditional student who came to America and New York state in 1996 after fleeing Iran due to her status as a women’s rights activist. She holds an associate of applied science from SUNY Morrisville and has worked several odd jobs in the past, but said her struggles with bipolar disorder and anosognosia ended up seeing her arrested and spending time in psychiatric facilities over the last two and a half years. Hami described how upon her release, she turned to getting her bachelor’s degree.
“Coming out, I decided to put the life in order and in the road of recovery registered for school, [BU], to continue my education,” Hami said. “I got a grant, or you may want to call it scholarship, from ACCES-VR, which is a New York state educational opportunity for disabled students of New York state residence and enrolled in school.”
This grant, however, was soon taken away when Hami learned that she had been categorized as an out-of-state student by Student Accounts despite having proof of New York state residency from 1996 and having paid in-state tuition at previous schools. This unexpected change would make a BU education unaffordable for Hami. Hami detailed her interaction with Student Accounts, including with the assistant director of the Office of Student Accounts, Michael Catalano, after learning of this.
“All being said, [Catalano] told me that [BU] has different rules than other SUNYs,” Hami said. “I went on my own, contacted SUNY, investigated the rules and I saw that that was not true. He had literally lied to me, because the rules for all 29 or so campuses of SUNY are the same for residency. And I was denied my residency, I was billed and I was unable to pay the $10,000, obviously. I could not register for the spring semester.”
Neville, a retired New York Police Department detective who has known Hami for nearly 25 years and has provided assistance to her along the way, discussed why he felt Student Accounts’ explanation was not sensible.
“Ms. Hami has lived in New York state continuously since 1996, so the idea that she is not a state resident is absolutely preposterous,” Neville said. “She has income tax returns, she has her expired driver’s license and I mean she has lived here continuously. She was considered a state resident from her time at SUNY Broome [Community College], and she has her [associate degree] from SUNY Morrisville where she was also paying in-state tuition, and that is clearly on her record.”
Hami has attempted reaching out to Services for Students with Disabilities as well as appealing to the residency committee, but said thus far her attempts and appeals have been met with little response. Hami described how much of her paperwork expired during her psychiatric facility stays, and the renewal processes have been elongated.
“Based on what happened with [COVID-19] and the pandemic, the process that is supposed to take three months processing my paperwork is now taking 12 months,” Hami said. “They could check it online, it’s all public information. So I won’t have my I-765 [Application for Employment Authorization] until June or July, and in order to renew my driver’s license I need my I-765.”
Due to such lengthy bureaucratic processes, Hami and Neville felt their best option for change was to turn to protesting.
“You have to make people aware of what is going on,” Neville said. “A lot of people, they don’t understand, and anyone who stops to talk to us, we will basically tell them about [Hami’s] plight.”
One such student who stopped to talk to the protestors was Sade Salazar, president of the Off Campus College Council (OC3) and a senior triple-majoring in economics, accounting and philosophy, politics and law. Salazar discussed the importance of student leaders taking an active role in such matters.
“No [BU] student should feel like they aren’t being heard,” Salazar wrote. “Students with disabilities deserve to be treated just like any other students that attend the University. Part of my position is to make sure students are being treated fairly, advocate for them when something is not fair and to connect them with more resources that can help further.”
The message of “Binghamton University Abuses Disabled Students” also sparked debates on other issues like accessibility for physical handicaps and accommodations for learning disabilities, as seen on a popular thread in the r/BinghamtonUniversity subreddit.
Janea Harris, a junior majoring in Chinese studies who recorded the protest on video, said the message made them reconsider the experiences of disabled students.
“When I saw this message, I instantly began to wonder what they could be referring to and what kind of abusive behaviors disabled students may be facing here at [BU],” Harris wrote in an email. “I think their act of protest raised awareness on a possible issue in our community that may have been ignored or unaddressed.”
Salazar said she hopes the resources she connected Hami with can help better the situation for her and for others in the future.
“What [Hami] described seemed to me to be like a case of negligence or obstructive bureaucracy that needs to be investigated,” Salazar wrote. “My hope is that with the proper channels we connected her with and attention from other students that it will be resolved for her, as she clearly has been through much.”
In the meantime, Hami, who finished last semester on the dean’s list and is due to be inducted into the Tau Sigma National Honor Society this Friday, said she deals with the mental burden of this new debt and semester gap. Hami, who said her mental health is being worsened by this, said she fears that her education is growing out of reach.
“I am in a very bad predicament because it is putting pressure on me every day that I have $10,000 of tuition unpaid and also the fact that this matter is putting pressure on me,” Hami said. “It is making me decompensate. They have already increased the doses of my medication, and I am not doing well. I am scared my education gets derailed and I can’t accomplish my goals.”
Hami said she hopes that telling her story would lead to the administration settling her problem.
“I just hope that through hearing my voice and my story that this does not happen to anybody else,” Hami said. “As a student, we do not have much financial abilities. Most of the students live on limited budget, and I hope that this story triggers the conscience of the administration as well, and that they come up with some sort of fair and subtle solution for me.”
BU did not respond to request for comment.
This is a developing story, which will be updated as Pipe Dream receives more information.