CrossingPoints will have one non-voting delegate each in the SGA Senate this semester.
CrossingPoints is a collaboration between the Department of Special Education and Tuscaloosa County Schools that provides employment transition services for students with disabilities aged 18-21 and allows them to work up to three hours a day, four days a week in real job settings.
After a pilot program brought one non-voting delegate from CrossingPoints, Jack Robinson, to the First Year Council last year, the program has continued, with K.D. Shelton serving as the current delegate.
SGA executive vice president Aubrei Grisaffe has led the partnership with CrossingPoints since her first term in SGA as the director of disability affairs and services from April 2023 to May 2024. She said that the first FYC delegate initially began as a “one-night collaboration” in 2024, but that there was an evident need for “continuity of the relationship.”
“Conversations began about whether or not it was possible to do a full-time delegation position, and really, with this, it was just about getting people on board,” Grisaffe said. “Sometimes you have to put in a little bit of effort to get the change off the ground. But making change isn’t difficult if you put forth the effort and identify a need for it.”
She said that the students in FYC will be able to use the lessons they learn from having a student with intellectual disabilities around them, and “consider ways in which our campus is serving or could better serve those students.”
The Senate legislation, B-07-25, led by Hannah Hurd and written by Senators Mary Kate Foster, Connor Guthrie and Senate Secretary Theo Villanueva, states that the addition of the CrossingPoints delegate will “allow SGA-leaders to better understand the CrossingPoints program as well as the needs of campus more holistically.”
Hurd said the program will take effect this semester and that the SGA was “excited about this collaboration and the opportunity to increase belonging and wellness” at the University.
“The addition of a full-time CrossingPoints delegate position in the Senate will further foster relationships between students in the Student Government Association and CrossingPoints,” she said.
Grisaffe said that it was easy for people to adopt an “infantilizing attitude” concerning students in the program, but that it was important to recognize the systems that “the United States has in place that make it more challenging for people with disabilities to access the resources they need.”
“You never know the full truth of something unless you experience it, and I think that every single person at Alabama has the opportunity to experience it because of the CrossingPoints program,” she said. “I encourage students to just open their eyes and put themselves out there, get comfortable being uncomfortable, and make new friends.”
