The 85-year-old Pioneer Hall dorm offers little to no access for those with disabilities.

Starting next school year, all that will change. St. Paul engineering and architecture firm TKDA will begin updating the building’s compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act by adding multiple elevators, wheelchair lifts and more.

Brian Morse, the project manager for the renovation, said the update will set an example for the rest of campus.

“Pioneer Hall is 99 percent inaccessible,” Morse said. “Taking it to the modern standard, it will change 180 degrees from there.”

Following talks with the University’s Disability Resource Center, Morse said there was no pushing or prodding by the center to include certain accommodations or characteristics.

The project will allow full access to every level and unit type. There will also be accessible bathroom stalls within the entire residence hall. While these changes are not much different from what the law requires, they will be a big improvement, Morse said.

Accessibility, he said, “is a belief we all have. It’s a belief that the client has. We’ve met with them to find creative ways to solve their problems.”

Morse said these conversions will also account for non-physical disabilities, such as providing door bells and strobes for deaf and hard-of-hearing students as well as private bathrooms for anxiety, specific handwashing needs or any other reason.

“We’ve had candid and joyful conversations, and this is what [the Disability Resource Center] expects their facilities to be,” Morse said.

Current Pioneer resident James Farnsworth thinks the upgrades are important. While not needing accommodations personally, he believes in advocating for those who do.

“You have to provide for all students,” Farnsworth said. “We all have that initial ranking opportunity for housing. If you have some sort of physical disability, you don’t have that ability to participate in that process.”