President Barack Obama, Leonardo da Vinci, Jimi Hendrix, Marilyn Monroe and Kermit the Frog all face a common challenge that an approximate 10 percent of Cal State Long Beach students face as well.
The trait that affects their everyday lives is left-handedness.
For about 3,341 students at CSULB, being a lefty means often having to deal with a shortage of left-handed seats in the classroom.
“I’m a lefty and it’s just irritating when you’re in class and uncomfortable,” sophomore electrical engineering major Alex Montoya said of right-handed seats.
Alene Spindel, an environmental science and policy major, said she has a lecture class that does not have left-handed seats.
“It’s a problem that they are not always provided, because being left-handed isn’t a handicap — it’s in fact a very common thing,” she said.
Dr. Bryng Bryngelson, a Minnesota psychologist, has conducted research on left-handedness for 30 years. He claimed that nearly 34 percent of the world’s population may be left-handed, but many are discouraged at a young age.
However, most studies report that only 10-15 percent of the population is left-handed.
Marine biology major Kristiana Marczeski said, “The left-handed chairs are always at the back in the dungiest area of the room, like being at the back of the bus.”
CSULB Coordinator of Support Services and Advising Disabled Student Services Peter Perbix said providing left-handed desks is not something the university is required to do.
“The university has to provide a reasonable experience for education,” he said, “and classrooms are deemed pretty well equipped if they have a desk and a board and the teacher. The only thing a school has to really worry about is public safety, not whether a lefty has a desk that works for them.”
According to Perbix, professors are not obligated to request left-handed tables for students.
Instead, students have to make themselves knowledgeable of where to make a proper chair request.
Sue Brown, director of physical and construction management, is in charge of providing reasonable accommodation in classrooms at Cal State Long Beach.
Brown said via email that, during the summer, her department ordered 754 new tablet armchairs to replace broken chairs in Liberal Arts 1 and Liberal Arts 5. Of these, 60 chairs, or 8 percent, were left-handed.
However, Brown said the department of physical and construction management is aware of a need for left-handed tables because of “specific student requests.”
Students who wish to request a left-handed table are asked to contact physical planning and facilities management to explore options for accommodation.
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