{"id":9688,"date":"2026-03-12T19:48:46","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T19:48:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/?p=9688"},"modified":"2026-03-12T19:48:47","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T19:48:47","slug":"students-start-a-petition-to-make-the-arboretum-more-accessible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/2026\/03\/12\/students-start-a-petition-to-make-the-arboretum-more-accessible\/","title":{"rendered":"Students start a petition to make the Arboretum more accessible"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

TROY, Ala. (TROJANVISION<\/a>) \u2014 Students are petitioning to make Troy University’s Arboretum<\/a> easier to drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Potholes, rough roads, and vehicle damage are the main concerns at the heart of a recent petition that calls for changes at the Arboretum. Without financial help from the University, though, Arboretum Director Alvin Diamond says not much can be done. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEverything we\u2019re doing pretty much is through grants and donations \u2013 we don\u2019t have a budget for the Arboretum \u2013 but they\u2019re usually for a specific purpose, and we can\u2019t take that money that\u2019s designated for one thing and use it to fix the road\u201d Diamond said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Diamond, many students are calling on the University to step in to help with everything that isn’t covered by grants and donations.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think the students are looking at it from the point of view that the arboretum is part of campus and just like all the other roads and parking lots and things on campus, that the university should be maintaining that area,\u201d Diamond said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fisher Parrish, the graduate student behind the petition, says they are trying their best to make the Arboretum as accessible as possible with existing resources.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Arboretum receives all-terrain wheelchair, increases accessibility<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe already have a few things here at the Arboretum that kind of help with ADA and accessibility for everybody on the trails; one thing in specific is a freedom chair,” Parrish said. “People who come out here who might be physically challenged; it\u2019ll help them navigate the trails.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A freedom chair is an all-terrain wheelchair designed to allow physically challenged people to get around on rough ground, gravel, or sand.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diamond says if they were to receive the funding needed to pave the driveway, academic and research procedures that take place at the Arboretum could become easier to do.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have quite a few classes that are held over there and we have a lot of labs and things so we have to take the equipment back and forth from where it\u2019s stored to over there and bring it back so there is a good deal of traffic that utilizes that area every day.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The area around the building at the arboretum was paved thanks to a donation years ago but the driveway leading up to it has been left in the hands of the University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TROY, Ala. (TROJANVISION) \u2014 Students are petitioning to make Troy University’s Arboretum easier to drive.<\/p>\n

Potholes, rough roads, and vehicle damage are the main concerns at the heart of a recent petition that calls for changes at the Arboretum. Without financial help from the University, though, Arboretum Director Alvin Diamond says not much can be done. <\/p>\n

\u201cEverything we\u2019re doing pretty much is through grants and donations…<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":9758,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1127],"tags":[2968,1784,2384],"topics":[17],"class_list":["post-9688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-news","tag-troy-university-accessibiity","tag-troy-university-arboretum","tag-troy-university-dr-alvin-diamond","topics-troy-campus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9688"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9757,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9688\/revisions\/9757"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9688"},{"taxonomy":"topics","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topics?post=9688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}