C3R Summit brings educators and students together to discuss LCC’s neurodivergent-friendly campus initiative

By Emmett Roman
Staff Reporter

On Jan. 22, the Coalition for College and Career Readiness (C3R) held its January Summit at the LCC Downtown Campus and via WebEx. This year’s first summit focused on LCC’s neurodivergent-friendly campus initiative, which aims to provide inclusion and enhance access and academic success for neurodivergent students.

C3R is a coalition compromised of individuals from Ingham, Clinton and Eaton counties whose goal is to provide an easy transition for new students into college from high school or the work force. The coalition was created by the Board of Trustees in 2014 because there were many high school students graduating without adequate writing, reading and mathematics skills for college-level work and classes.

According to the C3R webpage, the coalition’s partnership aims to identify “gaps between high school and first-year college skills and career readiness.” C3R also helps to increase academic success for students from preschool through higher education and create “best practices that can be adapted with fidelity and used across the tri-county area.”

The coalition holds summits twice a year to bring partners and communities together to inform them on the work that has occurred since the last meeting. Many community members, administrators, professors and students attend these summits, including a large number of K-12 community members at this January’s meeting.

The January summit gathered together students, families, educators, and community partners to look at the different aspects of the neurodivergent-friendly campus initiative. Attendees were invited to explore the main focus areas laid out in the initiative’s Findings and Recommendations Report: social integration and community building, inclusive academic practices, and sensory-friendly environments.

“For the [January] summit, we were setting up some groups to actually look at each of those individual areas [from the Findings and Recommendations Report],” Frank Taylor, care services manager for LCC’s Center for Student Access, said, “and make some recommendations to various bodies on campus about some potential changes we thought would be helpful.”

Dr. Toni Glasscoe is the associate vice president of external affairs, development and K-12 operations and serves as the divisional head of C3R. She is also an integral player in the neurodivergent-friendly campus initiative and intends to build systems within the college that can be used regardless of a student being neurodivergent. “I don’t like the word disability,” Glasscoe said. “Whatever is unique about an individual is their superpower. And whether I am visually challenged, whether I have hearing or diminished hearing, we are hoping this model can be applied.”

Glasscoe also explained that the model is meant to be integrated into all of LCC’s systems and structures, creating a legacy of neurodivergent-friendliness for all future students. “There is going to be a long history of making sure that we revisit whatever we have institutionalized so that neurodiversity is a social justice term,” Glasscoe said. “In fact, we have changed the initiative from ‘autism-friendly campus’ to ‘neurodivergent-friendly campus to get away from clinical terms.” Though the initiative is going to take some time, it is going to be very rewarding when done. “This work is going to take at least five to seven years just to roll it out,” Glasscoe said. In addition to the January C3R Summit, C3R is assembling workgroups to tackle each area laid out in the Findings and Recommendations report to carry on the work in the years to come.

A new program in 2021 marked the beginnings of the neurodivergent-friendly campus initiative. Ready for Launch, a pre-orientation specifically designed to help neurodivergent students transition from high school to college, is a program that stemmed from C3R and has become an annual event at LCC. Neurodivergent students will learn about LCC’s courses and campus resources. This year’s Ready for Launch will be hosted on March 10 from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

“The reason this program is so important is because the rate for students with disabilities is one-fourth of what it would be for non-disabled students,” Frank Taylor said. “Ready for Launch and many other things C3R is doing not only help students access college, but to be able to fully benefit from the things at a college and graduate.”

Glasscoe seeks student involvement when going over topics and changes that are going to specifically impact students and says that there is a need for LCC students to join C3R. Students, families, and community partners can email C3R@lcc.edu if they are curious or interested in joining.